The Legend of Wither: The Rise of Nobody
by The Wandering King
Summary: Twenty years have passed since the fall of the Dark Master, Malefor. Now it's time for a new generation to take up the teachings the elders have to offer, but when the son of Spyro and Cynder turns out different than expected, a new discovery is made.
1. Prologue

Prologue

"Noooooo!" screamed Malefor as the spirits of the past dragged him down into the great crystal he had the misfortune of landing on. All of his power was embedded in the crystal along with him and as he was sucked in he let it all out in a last ditch effort to prevent the inevitable. All that power had to go somewhere, and since the crystal was the heart of the world it had to purge the evil before it corrupted the planet like it did Malefor. It began to release the power in great, blinding, purple bursts that started to break the world apart.

Spyro, being a purple dragon himself, was the only one who could bring a halt to the coming destruction. The spirit of Ignitus came to him and delivered this important message so that he could fulfill his destiny. After hearing the words of his recently deceased teacher and closest friend, he realized that he would have to sacrifice himself to save the world and all of its inhabitants. He was scared, but he was more worried about Cynder who had stuck by him to the very end. Now, even in the face of death she wanted nothing more than to stay with him.

It didn't seem fair, to have made it all this way and then, at the last, have his future taken from him. He felt a little used by fate, but he knew what he had to do. As he prepared for the big moment, he couldn't help but think of his feelings for Cynder. He couldn't tell her how much he had come to love her, nor did he have the time. With a last farewell, he searched for the disturbance within the heart of the world. He found it and offered himself up to it, draining his life force into the crystal to negate the terrible forces that were desperately trying to complete the vile task of ending the world.

Spyro, an inch from death, began to feel strength returning to his weakened form. He opened his eyes in shock. What was going on? He couldn't believe it. This should have killed him. The great ancestors appeared before him once more and addressed him. "Spyro, the actions you have just displayed are the noblest we have seen these many years. For one so young, who has only begun to live, and in war all the while no less, allowing you to sacrifice yourself after giving so much to the world would be unacceptable. We have been storing energy here for thousands of years, since the time of the first dragons. Take it. It is our gift to you. Use it to give yourself the strength to live on and make a life of your own. You deserve it."

The destruction of the planet had almost been complete, but at the last possible second the world slowly put its pieces back together like a gigantic puzzle. Spyro, who was still extremely weak despite the massive transfer of energy that the ancestors had given him, but very much alive, fell to the floor of the great gem. After a few moments of rest he made it out of the chasm with the help of an over joyous Cynder. "You did it Spyro! You saved everyone and you're still alive!" Spyro, who had heard what Cynder believed would be the last thing she would ever say to him, weakly turned his head to her and replied, "I love you too," before laying his head down on her side and falling asleep.

It took several days for Spyro to regain his strength, and while he did, Cynder looked after him in the forest. Once he was strong enough to fly again they both decided to go on a much deserved vacation alone. They both knew that the citizens of Warfang would be worried about them and be eagerly watching for their return, but after some thought they decided they could spend a while at the enchanting Twilight Falls. Their first visit there was filled with danger and they hadn't really had the time to enjoy the beauty of the forest surrounding the falls. Now that Malefor's grublins were gone and the apes had gone into hiding, they could just relax and enjoy the serenity of the forest. In the morning, when the sun came up, everything glowed in the soft, golden light because of the dew that dappled the grass around the two young dragons when they awoke. As glorious as the mornings were, the nights were even more magical. The sky was so clear that all the stars could be seen with immaculate clarity. The moons seemed to be twice as large as normal and the light they gave off flowed through the forest, making everything appear a radiant purple. The soft sound of the stream going through the middle of the valley and the distant roar of the falls from where it originated made all who heard them feel a deep inner peace that couldn't be broken in the wondrous wood. These sights and sounds joined with the light wind singing through the trees, making it an absolutely outstanding place to stay.

It was in this forest that Spyro pledged his eternal love to Cynder and vowed that they would be together forever. They were finally able to spend their lives together. Eventually, they left Twilight Falls to let everyone in the city know they were still alive. They were met with cheers from all the people of Warfang and wed as soon as possible. Eight years went by and to everyone's joy, Cynder laid an egg. The young couple couldn't have been happier, but when the egg hatched . . . something was wrong. Every dragon's unique element was depicted by the color of their scales, but their hatchling had dull, lifeless, grey scales. They took the child to the elders to see what it could possibly mean. When they said that nothing like it had ever been recorded in dragon history they maintained a positive perspective. "We'll just have to wait and see what happens during the Great Awakening when the young dragons' powers start to form," said Cynder with optimism.

Spyro nuzzled the infant and said, "Whatever happens, I know we'll be proud of him."

Meanwhile, far away from these strange happenings in Warfang, Ignitus, the Chronicler of the new age, began new books for all the young dragons being born in the next generation. He was studying the new books when he saw the book that belonged to Spyro and Cynder's son. With a large smile, he called the book to him, opened it, and began to read. As he flipped through the pages the smile on his face slowly disappeared. He turned page after page and his faded smile quickly turned into a worried expression. His eyes grew wide and he leaned in expectantly. After an hour he closed the book and put it back on the shelf. "The poor lad," he said to himself. "It hardly seems fair to be born into such a situation. At least it will work out for him later, but still . . . Ah, I shouldn't worry. He is the son of Spyro and Cynder. Who else would be given this opportunity?" The Chronicler looked over once more at the book that was as grey as the scales of the dragon it belonged to. He read the name on the spine and said a prayer for the boy. Then, after a few moments he returned to his work, chronicling everything that was happening in the world and for a time he paid no more attention to the dull grey book that contained the life story of the dragon named Wither.


	2. Chapter 1 A Sheltered Child

Chapter 1- A Sheltered Child

"Wither." Cynder woke her child, which was unfortunate for Wither because it was still early in the morning. The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon, setting Warfang ablaze with the coming dawn. "Wither, wake up."

"Huh? Wha . . . What is it?" asked the young dragon with half open eyes that wearily stared up at his mother.

Cynder gave him a smile and said, "I'm sorry to wake you so early, but your father and I need to go speak with Yarrow. We'll be gone for a while and I don't really know when we'll be back, so your uncle Sparx is in charge while we're away. You listen to your uncle now okay?"

"Alright, don't worry, I'll be good. Can I please go back to sleep now?"

Cynder laughed softly at the young one and nuzzled his snout. "Of course you can. It's still early. Get some sleep. It will make Sparx's job easier."

Wither gave his mother a thoughtful look and asked, "Wouldn't you like it if I made it hard for uncle Sparx?"

Cynder really got a laugh out of that. It was no secret that there was a playful rivalry between Sparx and Cynder, a love-hate relationship. "Just don't be too rambunctious of he'll know I told you to be."

Just then, Spyro came into Wither's bedroom. "Cynder, are you ready?"

"Yes, I'm ready. Let's go."

Spyro looked past Cynder and waved. "Bye Wither. We'll see you later."

Wither waved back and said, "Bye mom, bye dad."

Sparx flew into the room and waved at them too saying, "Don't worry about a thing. He'll be fine. As you know, I'm great with kids. I'm great at everything, but I'm especially great with kids."

Spyro briefly glanced back at his brother and said, "Just don't get stepped on."

Three hours later, Wither woke up again. This time he was ready to get out of bed. As he stepped out of the mountain of cushions that made up his bed and onto the stone floor, he stretched his body out like a cat to work the stiffness out of his muscles. Wither was unusually small for a dragon his age. He was nearing his twelfth birthday, as were all the other young dragons in his generation. Wither didn't appear to be anything special based on physical appearances. He had two ivory horns that came out of the top of his head and curved backward, his back spines were grey, and his grey tail spade had a simple oval shape that came to a point. His eyes were grey too, which matched the rest of his body. The only notable aspects of his appearance were the fact that his belly and wing membranes were a slightly darker shade of grey than the rest of his body. In general he looked pretty basic, far different from any of the other kids his age.

"Rise and shine, Wither! Come on, it's nine o'clock. Are you ready for breakfast?"

"Yeah, but how did you hunt down enough for me to eat, Sparx?"

"Ha! Don't be silly. Your parents left something for you while they're away. Come on, it's on the roof."

Wither watched all the other children play far below as he ate. He wished he could join them, but he knew that Sparx would no doubt be under specific instructions to keep him inside. Wither knew his parents were important because they were both on the Council of Elders. Due to the importance of his family, they had the tallest tower in the city all to themselves. From the roof Wither could see the whole city, but he was so high up that no one could really see him. A small silhouette was all anyone could make out. All of the children knew of the young dragon that almost never left the house. Occasionally, they would run up to Spyro and Cynder and ask if Wither could come out to play, but they always said that he wasn't quite ready to leave the nest yet. Since no one but the elders had ever even seen him he was a huge mystery to everyone. Although Wither didn't know it, he was the talk of the city. The children were impatient to meet him and didn't know why he wasn't allowed outside during the day. However, they did know that his cautious parents would have to let him out on the day of the Great Awakening.

On this day all the young dragons of the new generation would finally have their elemental powers awakened. They would be separated into classes based on their elements. The elders, who had mastered a certain element each, would be the teachers of these classes. This made the Great Awakening the first day of school. The children already knew what their elements were because the color of their scales depicted what they could control. Only Wither didn't know what he would turn out to be due to his strange scale color.

Yarrow, who was the oldest and most respected dragon in the city, also happened to be the closest family friend. All of the elders of the city knew Wither well enough, but it was Yarrow who had always had a deep connection with the young dragon. Perhaps it was because they were both profoundly rare dragons. Yarrow was a life dragon, which meant he held the power to control nature itself. This alone made him powerful enough, but his wisdom was just as great as his element. Yarrow was only the fourth life dragon in recorded history.

As rare as Yarrow's kind were, Wither brought a whole new meaning to the word. Wither had been questioned, studied, and observed by the elders ever since his birth. Much research had been done in the Library of Dragon History, but so far no one had ever heard of a dragon like Wither ever being born before. Ever. The elders believed this was due to the fact that Spyro the Purple Dragon was the boy's father and Cynder the Black Dragon was his mother. No couple like this had ever been seen before either.

The elders, including Spyro and Cynder, all agreed that the boy should be secluded until the Great Awakening to ensure his safety. Now, with the Great Awakening only a week away, everyone was getting anxious. The children wished to meet the mysterious Wither, the elders wanted to see what his element would be, and he was desperate for freedom.

As Wither stared down at the young dragons having a good time he got an idea. "Hey Sparx, I'm done with my breakfast. What do you want to do now?"

"Well, we can't leave the house. Your mom and dad told me that we have to stay inside. What do you want to do?"

"Why don't we play hide and seek? I figured out an amazing hiding place in the house yesterday. You'll never find me in a million years." Wither knew this challenge would get to his uncle on account of his competitive nature.

"Oh really? We'll just see about that. I'll count to sixty and I guarantee I'll find you in record breaking time. Ready? One, two, three . . ."

Wither grinned as he ran down through the tower. He couldn't believe he had never tried this before. Sparx would be too busy looking for him to wonder where he was. Wither had run down nine floors of the tower and still had three to go when his uncle finished counting and began his search. He dashed out the front door and into the bushes so as to not be seen, thinking as he did so that he should be back in an hour. The grey dragon looked around in wonder, not that he had never been out here before. He went outside almost every night to either go see the Council of Elders or Yarrow. This time was different for three reasons. One, he didn't have his mom and dad breathing down his neck, watching him every step of the way to make sure he didn't wander off. Two, he didn't have anywhere to be. He was free to go where he wanted and do as he pleased. Three, everything looked different in the daylight. It even sounded different. Instead of the chirping of crickets, croaking of frogs, and otherwise peaceful quiet, there were birds singing and fluttering through the trees. There were screams of excitement and laughter from nearby children and the general buzz of activity coming from all around.

He snuck through the bushes under the trees in one of the parks and peered through them from the safety of a clearing. On the other side he could see young dragons like himself playing nearby. There were ten of them and they were playing tag. He watched them for a while and debated whether he should join them, but after being secluded for so long he found that he was too shy to do so. He tried to back away quietly, but the closest dragon must have heard him. She looked over at his hiding place and started to walk over. Wither heard someone shout, "What is it, Renna?"

She looked over her shoulder and replied, "Nothing, I just need to go. I'll be right back."

All this time Wither had been easing his way back through the bushes, but now he ran. He wasn't scared, but he wasn't confident enough to meet anyone new yet either. He was about thirty feet from the edge of the trees when he heard a snap behind him. He swung around to see what it was and found himself nose to nose with the girl who had heard him. "Ghaa!" Wither let out a yelp and stumbled backwards over himself.

"Are you alright?" asked the girl whose name he remembered was Renna.

"I'm fine. I just didn't hear you come up behind me."

She smiled at him, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. Why were you running?"

Wither looked back toward his home just beyond the trees and said, "I was just going home. I'm not really supposed to be out right now."

At these words the girl's eyes grew wide with astonishment. She looked up at the house, then back down at the boy in front of her. Come to think of it, she had never seen him before. "You must be Wither!"

Wither was taken aback by this exclamation. "How do you know my name? I've never met you in my life."

"Are you kidding? Everyone knows who you are!" This Renna person was getting very excited now. "I can't believe I'm finally getting to meet you! What did you do? Sneak out?"

"Well, yes. That was the only way, and it only worked because my uncle is supposed to be watching me. If my plan was good enough, he's still looking for me in a heated game of hide and seek."

Renna gave a little chuckle, "You're pretty smart. Hey, are you looking forward to the Great Awakening?"

Wither perked up, "Oh yes! I can't wait until my parents let me come outside whenever I want."

Renna frowned and asked, "Why don't they ever let you play with everyone else?"

Wither sighed and looked down. "It's because of my scales. None of the elders can figure out what my element is supposed to be. They say that the color of a dragon's scales shows what element they control. As you can see, my scales are grey and have no luster. They're dull and lifeless."

"I think your scales suit you. You look very clever, sly, and mysterious."

"Well, I don't even compare to you. Look at your scales. Let's see here, they're pearly white and dazzle brighter than other dragons' scales and you have a belly of shining silver with iridescent wing membranes. That must make you a light dragon. You're lucky. That's very rare. You're only the ninth light dragon to ever live."

"Wow, you really are smart. How did you know that?"

"I talk to the elders almost every day and Yarrow is my best friend. They've all told me a lot about dragon rarities. Even though I don't look like much they say I'm one of a kind."

"You know, you really are too hard on yourself. You haven't even given yourself a chance yet. Just you wait. I bet your element will be so powerful you'll almost compare with your dad."

"I don't know about that, but I guess you're right. I should wait and see what happens next week. Who knows? Maybe I'll turn out to be amazing like you."

"Aw, that's so sweet." Renna's eyes drooped half closed as she took a step closer. The tone in her voice was unfamiliar to Wither, but warm and soothing. It made him feel funny inside.

"Renna! Where are you?"

Renna stopped and looked over her shoulder to see a bright orange dragon make his way through the bushes and walk toward them. He was a little larger than the average dragon his age and had a yellow belly and red wing membranes. Two brown horns curved upward out of both sides of his head and back down before making one last curve upward again. His tail spade was curved too, and came to a nasty point much like the tip of a scorpion's tail. Wither saw a look of disgust wash over Renna's face. He could hear the disdain in her voice when she said, "Oh, Arragor. It's you."

Arragor looked at Wither and said, "Who are you?"

Renna answered, "This is Wither."

Arragor looked closer now and a smug grin spread across his face. "Well, so much for the mysterious dragon way up yonder in the tower. He's not much to look at is he?"

Wither didn't know what to say. He was so hurt by what Arragor said that he turned around and ran back home. He ignored Renna's shouts for him to come back. Arragor had hit him where it hurt most. Wither was extremely sensitive when it came to his appearance.

He ran back inside and up to his room and lay down in the nest of soft pillows that made up his bed. He had a strong will and didn't cry, but it wasn't easy to hold back the tears that Arragor had so cruelly brought to the surface. He finally understood why his parents never let him go outside during the day. They always said it was to protect him. Only now did he know that they meant to protect him emotionally. He had always thought they were over cautious and didn't want him to get hurt, but now he saw that there were people in the world that could be cruel to someone just because they're different.

After a few minutes he looked up and saw Sparx fluttering in the doorway. He flew over to where Wither lay recovering from the blow to his self-esteem and stared him right in the eyes for a few seconds before pointing a finger right between Wither's eyes and saying, "I saw you come in."


	3. Chapter 2 Lessons

Chapter 2- Lessons

"He did what?" Spyro was more than a little angry with his son. He and Cynder had been gone all day and night was beginning to fall over Warfang like a giant, dark shroud. Sparx had just reported Wither's little adventure to the boy's parents. They were none too thrilled to hear of their son's deception and disobedience. Yet, at the same time they couldn't blame him. They kept him locked away in the house all day every day, and they weren't unaware of how unfair it was. They truly wished he could be free and couldn't wait until next week when he would be. However, they knew he had to stay here until the Great Awakening, to protect him from the cruelty of the other children. Some of them would inevitably take a disliking to Wither due to his differences.

Wither hadn't told Sparx what happened while he was outside, so as of yet, Spyro and Cynder didn't know either. Spyro thanked Sparx for watching Wither for the day and Cynder chided him for letting a child trick him so easily. Sparx left mumbling something about a certain evil she-dragon. Once he was gone Spyro's anger subsided. He looked at Cynder and asked, "What are we going to do with him? I feel like punishing him would be the wrong thing to do."

"You're right. It wouldn't be right to punish him. He's a boy. He needs to go outside and play and run around with his friends. Spyro, he doesn't _have_ any friends." Cynder was starting to sound upset now. She knew that what they were doing to their son was doing as much harm as it was good.

Spyro placed a paw on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. "Let's go talk to him. He needs to know that he's not in trouble." They turned and walked up the stairs, thinking as they did so, what they would say to their son, who was waiting for them up in his room. When they reached the floor that Wither's room was on they turned to his doorway and walked into his room. Wither looked up at his parents when they came in, but immediately put his head down and looked at the floor.

Spyro put a smile on to make him feel better and said, "Don't worry. If you were in trouble, you would have known it by now." Wither looked up gratefully at his parents as they came over and lay down in front of him. They both crossed their fore paws which meant they wanted to talk for a while. They were all silent for a moment, but then Cynder started the conversation.

"We hear you went outside today."

Wither tried to speak, but all that came out was a whispered, "Yeah."

Spyro saw that Wither didn't think he was off the hook just yet, so he asked him a shocking question. "How was it?"

Wither looked up again and knew that everything was okay now. "Well, it was great at first." He proceeded to tell them everything that had happened to him, how he saw the children playing tag, how he met the girl named Renna, and he finished the story with the cruelty of the fire dragon, Arragor. Spyro and Cynder weren't very happy to hear about this last part. After all the years of trying to protect their son, it was undone by a single brat with no respect for others.

Spyro became angry again and said, "Ah yes, Arragor. I know that boy. He's nothing but trouble. Don't listen to anything that boy ever says."

"But he was right! Look at me! I don't look like any of the other dragons."

Cynder leaned down and said, "Don't believe what he said for a second. Yes, you look different, but that's nothing to be ashamed of. For a dragon, that's something to be proud of. It means that you are more special than any other dragon who has ever lived. If Arragor can't see that, then that makes him the ugly one. If anything you should feel sorry for Arragor, because being ugly on the inside is the worst thing that can happen to anyone."

Spyro added, "Or maybe Arragor can see how special you are and he's just jealous. On second thought, he's not that smart. He's probably just being a jerk." This made Wither laugh. His parents always knew how to cheer him up. Spyro continued, "Look on the bright side. You're not a fire dragon, which means you won't be in his class, so you won't be seeing too much of him."

This made Wither feel much better. The less he saw of Arragor, the better. "I still don't know why he had to be so mean to me. I've never met him and he doesn't even know me. Why would he say all those things to someone he doesn't even know?"

Spyro and Cynder looked at each other for a moment, then looked back down at the small boy and stood up. It was Cynder who spoke next. "Why don't we all go see Yarrow? Maybe he can explain it to you, and while we're there he can tell you why we were with him all day."

Wither bolted up with excitement at the mention of the ancient dragon's name. Although Wither had no friends that were his own age, Yarrow was his very best friend. The old dragon was very wise and always knew exactly what to say and when. Yarrow was Wither's idol. He was almost like another father to him, and even though Wither loved his parents, he felt that no one understood him better than Yarrow. "Yeah! I've been dying to talk to Yarrow. It's been about three days since I've seen any of the elders."

Spyro laughed and asked, "What about us? We're both elders too you know."

Wither waved a paw at him and said, "I mean besides you. Come on, let's go."

Wither, who was anxious to go, ran past his parents and out into the hall. His mother called out to him saying, "Hey! Wait for us!" They all descended the stairs together, not stopping for anything when they reached the ground floor. They walked out the front door and into the night. Yarrow's home was right next to the Council Chamber. It was convenient for the old dragon to live close so that he didn't have to travel far every time there was a meeting, and plus he got some special perks, being the Grand High Elder, which meant that his word held the most weight.

The summer night was warm and pleasant. The stars shone brightly like beacons in the sky above Warfang and the waxing moons were nearing their full state of beauty. It just so happened that this generation's Great Awakening would take place on the day of the second full moons of the month. This was considered a good omen. The rarity of the dual blue moons would also bring rarity to Warfang. The walk to Yarrow's house was only half a mile, but there were a few twists and turns on the way there. The path they took went past patches of wooded areas where parks were stationed. They also walked between large fences and buildings on either side of the street. It was late, so there were almost no people out. Most were in their homes by now, but a few still strolled through the streets on their way home. They didn't meet anyone on the way, but there was a point about halfway there when Wither thought he heard someone rustling in the bushes. He looked toward the trees, but there was no one there. He forgot about it and kept going, his mother and father a few feet behind him.

After the last turn in the road, their destination loomed into view. Yarrow's house wasn't as large as theirs, but it was quite interesting. The house was only one story and shaped like a ring. It had four entrances, each facing a cardinal direction on the outside. The inner wall of the house had four doorways leading out into a large garden that took up more space than the actual building surrounding it. The garden was huge. It was a hundred yards from end to end, and it was beautiful. There were all kinds of plants from all kinds of places. Yarrow had made the whole thing and took care of it all by himself. It wasn't hard for him. All he had to do was will the plants to grow, and they thrived in his presence. Being a life dragon, this was where he spent most of his time. He even slept out in the garden most nights.

When the three of them got to the south entrance Spyro called out to let Yarrow know they were there. They walked in and crossed the hall to the other side. "He's probably in the garden," said Spyro.

They went out into the garden and made their way to the center. The center of the garden had a large pavilion that could be used for shelter while staying outside to admire its beauty. This was where Yarrow was most likely to be. When they got through the vegetation and the pavilion came into sight they saw the ancient dragon in a sitting position, his eyes closed, and his wings spread out behind him. He seemed to be giving off a faint pale green glow and as they approached, Spyro said, "I hope we aren't interrupting anything important."

Yarrow's eyes opened. They were glowing so brightly that they couldn't actually see them. When he spoke, his voice seemed to whisper echoes inside their ears like a thousand people were all saying the same thing at once. "Of course not. Come. Come, my friends. Sit with me. My garden and I are just feeding each other."

They all came over and sat down in front of Yarrow. After a moment, he stopped glowing, lowered his wings and opened his eyes again. They were a rich brown color, like the fertile soil that his plants were rooted in. When he spoke again it was just the voice of a very old man. "Back so soon?" He directed this at Spyro and Cynder then he lowered his head to look at Wither. He gave him a deep, warm smile when he saw the little dragon and exclaimed, "Ah! But this time you brought the little wonder with you. Have you told him of our conversation that consumed the better part of the day?"

It was Cynder who replied, "Actually, that's part of the reason why we're here. First, I think we should talk about what Wither was doing while we were away." She looked down at her son who was once again marveling at his old friend. Yarrow had pale green scales with brown and other hues of green flaked in. His belly was orange and red like the leaves of autumn trees and had ragged wings to match. He had two horns that curved backwards and corkscrewed several times like those of a goat and his tail spade looked like a closed flower bud.

Wither looked up at his mother and back to Yarrow. Cynder nudged her son along and said, "Why don't you tell Yarrow what you did today?"

Wither dove into the story once again. He told the wise, old dragon of his experiences and his unfortunate encounter with the bully named Arragor. The old dragon never once interrupted him. He listened intently and only chuckled at the good parts and frowned slightly at the end. When the tale was over, Yarrow stood and looked at Spyro and Cynder, "I would like to talk to the boy alone if you don't mind."

They both agreed and Yarrow looked down at Wither and told him, "Walk with me." Wither stood and together they left the pavilion and his parents. They walked into the garden silently. Wither could tell that he wasn't angry. He seemed to be proud of him for venturing off on his own to make new discoveries. When they were deep in the garden Yarrow said, "It's beautiful out here isn't it?"

This caught Wither by surprise. The old man unexpectedly changed the conversation sometimes, but he was a highly intelligent person and always turned his new conversation into a point for the previous one. "Yes, your garden is the greatest in Warfang. There's no other like it anywhere."

"Why do you think that is?"

"It's because of the variety of plants you put in it. You have a little bit of everything. All of your plants are beautiful. Oh . . . well, except that one." The path they had taken brought them to a clearing with one plant in the middle. It wasn't currently in bloom and it was hideous. Wither immediately thought it was dead when he saw it. It had black thorns all over it and prickly leaves that appeared dried up and shriveled. The whole thing looked disgusting and withered, just like him, the young dragon thought with sorrow.

"Oh, you think this one is no better than the others?"

Wither gave Yarrow a curious look and said, "Well, yeah. Look at it. Are you sure it isn't dead?"

Yarrow looked at the flower and said, "Oh no, it isn't dead. It's just different. Like you, this flower looks nothing like the others around it." Yarrow began to glow again and he stepped forward, nudging the flower with his nose. "But if you look inside, you'll find that it is the most beautiful thing for miles around."

To Wither's astonishment, the flower opened up and revealed what was previously hidden by the repulsive exterior. The petals of the flower were blindingly bright orange on the outside, but as they went further into the center, they became a brilliant deep blue with white sparkles in it. The whole thing looked like stars in the night sky surrounded by a blazing fire. The flower remained open for about ten seconds before closing again. It was as ugly on the outside as it was magnificent on the inside.

Wither looked up at Yarrow, who was smiling down at him. "You see? It doesn't matter what others may say about you, because they cannot see what makes you so wonderful. Let me tell you something. When someone is cruel to others, it's just their way of hiding from their own problems. Some think that by making others feel pain they will forget their own. There will be people who will be mean to you because you are different, but I want you to know that anyone who can be so cruel to another living being is a very unhappy soul. You should feel sorry for these people and pray for them. Never be offended by anything they say, keep your head up, and you will find that you take their power away. Say only kind things to them. This will confuse them to the point of speechlessness. Do you understand?"

Wither nodded that he did and Yarrow replied, "Good. Let's go back to your parents now. It's getting late and you should go. Young dragons need to sleep."

When they got back to the pavilion Spyro and Cynder stood and Wither walked up to them. "Did Yarrow help you like we thought?" asked Cynder.

"Yes, he told me many important things, but now he says it's time to go."

Spyro looked at Yarrow and asked, "Did you tell him about the arrangement?"

Yarrow put a paw to his head and said, "Ah, I'm sorry. It's late and I'm old. I completely forgot about that."

Everyone now looked down at Wither and Spyro said, "Since you are a very rare dragon and no one seems to share your power, we have been having a difficult time deciding who your teacher should be. We are lacking a master of whatever element you will turn out to possess; sooooo . . . how would you like it if Yarrow would be your teacher?"

Wither was ecstatic to hear such news. "Yes! Yes, please! Yes, I want Yarrow to be my teacher!"

"But you won't be my only student." Wither looked back at Yarrow now. "There is another rare dragon living in Warfang that we have no master for, so I will be teaching two students. There's you and your new friend, Renna."

This made Wither even more excited. Renna had been kind to him when she could have been cruel like Arragor. He felt that they would become great friends in class and thought that spending all day with her and Yarrow would be fun. "Does she know yet?"

"She will be informed about the arrangement tomorrow. Well, I'm glad I could be of some assistance to you, but I'm tired now and ready for bed."

Spyro replied, "Alright, thank you for the help. We'll be on our way now." The family of three turned around and walked back through the garden to the south exit. When they left the house it was quiet in the lonely city streets. Now that it was late everyone was inside their homes and getting ready for bed. Wither ran ahead of his parents, still excited about next week. They didn't mind letting him get ahead of them. Now that everyone was inside and they were alone, they didn't feel like they had to be as protective of Wither, and besides, he knew the way home. He turned around a corner, leaving their field of vision, and galloped down the street laughing with excitement.

Then, as he was about to run past the bush he had heard noises in earlier, Arragor popped out and blocked his path. Wither came to a stop and stared at him. "Oh hey, it's you."

Then, out of the bushes came three more dragons. One was a little smaller than the others. He seemed jittery and was unable to stand still even for a second as he shifted from one foot to the other, did a strange little dance in place, and just about twitched for every movement he made. He was yellow with golden lightning bolts running down his face from his eyes which indicated that he was an electric dragon. He had electric blue wing membranes and a bright white belly. His tail spade was a jagged looking lightning bolt that had a sharp, serrated edge and he had two small horns that poked out of his head and shot straight up. Wither didn't like the creepy smile that curled across his face and the crazy look in his shifty eyes that twitched from Wither to his friends and back again.

There was another that was about average in terms of size, but he appeared unnaturally thin like a female. His scales were sky blue and he had a lavender belly and dark navy blue wing membranes. His tail spade looked like a strange collection of icicles. Six pointy spikes were arranged in a circle spreading outward from the base, which surrounded one larger one in the center. A crown of seven horns stood tall and proud atop his head, the middle being the longest and the other three on either side becoming smaller as they approached the outside of the formation. He was obviously and ice dragon and from the looks of him he was someone you didn't want to mess with. His calm and cool attitude and icy hard stare that drilled right to Wither's core matched the element he would soon learn to control. He seemed like the quiet type and he even treaded lightly so as to not make a sound with each step he took.

The final dragon to step from the bushes was massive compared to the others. He was undoubtedly the largest dragon that the new generation had to offer. Even for an earth dragon he was the epitome of physical dominance. Were it not for the magical powers that dragons possessed he would inarguably be the alpha male. His dark green scales brought out the yellow green belly he had and matched perfectly with his dirt brown wing membranes. He had two thick horns that actually bent twice in ways that made the tips point forward, which was unusual for any dragon, but made head butts quite deadly. Rather than the club of a tail spade that was characteristic of most earth dragons, his was like a miniature porcupine that sprouted what looked like at least a hundred spikes, which were so dense that the base they originated from wasn't even visible through the throng of spines. He too seemed like the quiet type, but not in the way the ice dragon was. While a cold and calculating intelligence hid behind the ice dragon's eyes, the earth dragon's gaze was empty and lazy. He took no care with his steps and simply lumbered into view like the big oaf he was.

All four of them came out of the bushes to block Wither's path. Arragor sneered at him and said, "Well, well, well, if it isn't the freak." This got laughs from all of his friends. "You know me; my name's Arragor. This is Xath," he pointed to toward the electric dragon. "Zar," he indicated the ice dragon. "And Obsidius," he said gesturing to the earth dragon.

"I've told my friends all about you, how you ran away like a baby the first time we met." He was starting to get to Wither, but then he remembered what Yarrow had told him. He said there would be more than one who would hate him just because he was different. All of these dragons must be much worse off than him to be giving him such a hard time, at least that's the way Yarrow had put it. Arragor continued, "You see, the thing is, I saw you talking to Renna today and you really need to know that that's not okay. I don't want you going anywhere near her. Do you understand?"

Wither lifted his head with a little smirk and said, "Gee, I would love to obey your commands and all, but it's going to be really hard to stay away from her when it's just the two of us in one class together.

Arragor's eyes narrowed at these words and he hissed, "You lie."

"No, it's true. I'm coming back from Yarrow's house. He just told me that since, obviously, neither of us have a master to teach us, he would have to privately teach both of us."

This made Arragor furious. "Well, if you can't stay away from her, then you need to be taught not to talk to her." He made a gesture with his paw and his friends began to move toward Wither slowly. Wither hadn't counted on this. He didn't know that they would actually try to hurt him. He tried to run back up the street, but the other three grabbed him and pulled him back. With all three of them holding him down, Arragor walked up to Wither and said, "Just remember, if you leave Renna alone this will never have to happen again." He raised a paw high up into the air with his sharp claws bared, ready to strike, but at the last minute Spyro and Cynder came around the corner.

When they saw the boys holding Wither down and Arragor ready to lay the first blow on their son Cynder acted at a speed that only a mother protecting her young could pull off. She let out a loud screech that ripped through the air and left red waves in its wake. When it struck the young boys it shattered their minds, leaving them frozen in place, gripped by a terrible, heart wrenching fear. Spyro ran over and picked the delinquents off of his son and dropped them on the ground next to Arragor. Wither ran behind his outraged father and to his mother for protection and comfort. She held him as he looked back to see that the boys were starting to get over his mother's fear attack.

Spyro was in a shouting mood, but he hissed at the boys in front of him, as it was late and he did not wish to wake anyone that Cynder's attack hadn't already. "What do you think you're doing? You almost beat up my son? And why? Because his scales are grey? Because he doesn't shine like other dragons? Because he's a little different than you? You ought to be ashamed of yourselves, one, for picking a fight with him in the first place, and two, because you ganged up on him. Four against one? Where's your sense you honor? I know all your parents and they will hear about this. Now go home. You shouldn't be out this late anyway."

They ran faster than they ever had in all their lives, thankful that they didn't have to face the wrath of the legendary Purple Dragon or the Black Dragon. When they were gone Spyro made his way back to his family and leaned down to face Wither at eye level. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

Wither shook his head, "No. I'm fine. You came just in time."

Now Cynder raised her head from her son to face Spyro and said, "This is more serious than I thought. We'll have to talk to those parents tomorrow." She looked back down at Wither and asked, "Do you see why we always watch you so closely? There are people who will be unreasonably vicious to you just because you're different. I think it's best if you stay home until the Great Awakening."

Wither agreed and they all walked back home. When he climbed into bed he could hear his parents talking about the incident that had just occurred outside. He felt comforted by their voices and they started to lull him to sleep. The last thought he had before drifting off was that he couldn't wait for the Great Awakening.


	4. Chapter 3 The Great Awakening

Chapter 3- The Great Awakening

Wither awoke the next day feeling refreshed and renewed. He climbed out of bed and stretched his body like a cat and splayed his wings to their fullest extent. After a big yawn he walked out into the hall and up the stairs toward the roof. He was hungry for breakfast and wanted to get a good look at the city. About halfway up the steps leading to the roof he came face to face with his uncle Sparx. He didn't look particularly happy to see his nephew. Floating at eye level with Wither, staring right into his mildly surprised eyes with his narrowed ones he crossed his arms and said, "We'll have no games today. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You won't get that chance. Your parents put me in charge of you again, but this time I won't be taking my eyes off of you for a second."

Wither stepped around his tiny uncle and kept walking up the stairs. As he passed the slightly irritated dragonfly he said, "You won't have to worry about me going anywhere today. I'm staying right here until the Great Awakening."

"I'll see to that. Your parents were very clear when they told me about what happened last night. I'm to make absolutely sure you don't go anywhere while they're away."

"As I said, I won't be going anywhere today, but out of curiosity, what would you do if I decided I did want to leave?" Sparx tried to think of a snappy comeback to this while Wither started eating the meal that his parents had left for him, but before he could make his sharp retort Wither interrupted him. "I'm just kidding, Sparx. So tell me, where did they go today anyway? They usually tell me if they're going somewhere."

"They seemed pretty angry when they left, and I don't blame them after what those kids tried to do to you. They probably forgot to tell you because they were so eager to get out the door. Your dad said that they were going to talk to those kids' parents. That was about three hours ago. They should be back any time now." This proved to be quite true, for just as Sparx said this, Wither looked down and saw his parents coming back home. However, they were not alone; they had quite a procession behind them. There were eight other adults and four children following his parents, and although Wither was too high up to see them clearly, he didn't have to see them to know who they were. He didn't know what to do. He knew his parents were bringing Arragor, his friends, and all of their parents over, but he didn't want to talk to them. Wither ran down the stairs, ignoring the shouts of his uncle to wait up. He ran to his room and burrowed under the cushions that made up his bed.

Sparx flew over to the pile and said, "Come on Wither, your parents probably want you to meet all those dragons."

Under the mountain of pillows Wither's muffled voice proclaimed, "I'm not coming out! Tell them I don't want to talk to them!"

Sparx gave a sigh and flew down the stairs to deliver the message. Wither waited under the pillows and after a few minutes he heard someone coming up the stairs. His mother appeared in the doorway and stepped inside the room calling out Wither's name. Slowly, Wither came out of his hiding place. Cynder looked down at her son, her special boy, who was so misunderstood and rejected by some of the most popular children in his generation. Arragor and his gang had made a big reputation for themselves over the years and every young dragon in the city knew them. Cynder was afraid that they would be setting a trend for the way everyone treated Wither. Luckily, there were still others like Renna, whose popularity with the younger generation was unparalleled. All the boys wanted to be with her and all the other girls wanted to be her. Maybe if everyone saw the way she treated Wither, they would follow her example and ignore the little brats that waited downstairs. It would also help if the group of friends that Renna led took him in. Their reputation was just as illustrious as Arragor's was infamous.

She shook these thoughts from her head and focused on the task at hand. Leaning down to Wither's level she said, "They have come to say they're sorry."

"I don't want to talk to them. I don't even want to see them. They'll only say they're sorry because they have to. That's why their parents came with them, as if they would ever mean it."

Cynder leaned closer to Wither and whispered to him with a smile, "Whether they mean it or not, they're going to say it. It will be rather embarrassing for all of them, and on top of that, they're in big trouble with their parents. You wouldn't believe their reactions when we told them what happened last night. Any dragon would be mortified to hear that their kid attacked the son of the famous Purple Dragon and Black Dragon. They're all furious with them. It was their parents' idea to come over and have them say sorry, so come on downstairs. They're waiting."

When Wither got down to the bottom floor he saw everyone waiting for him in the lounge area. When he reached the bottom of the steps everyone turned to get a good look at him. Almost no one had ever seen the son that everyone knew Spyro and Cynder had and most of the parents had also secretly come to meet the little wonder. He watched as most of them cast their curious gazes over him. He could feel their eyes studying him and judging him and knew they were wondering if he would live up to his parents' fame. However, there was one among them that only waved at him. Wither was surprised to see that Fire Master Spire was one of the parents that had come to oversee the apologies. The Fire Master got up and made his way to Wither and said, "Hello, Wither. It's good to see you. Unfortunately, the circumstances that have brought us together here are not so good. I believe my son has something to say to you."

To Wither's horror Arragor stepped forward. Wither couldn't believe that Arragor was Spire's son. Spire was the Fire Master in the Council of Elders. He would be the teacher for all the new fire dragons after the Great Awakening. Wither and Spire knew each other quite well. Now that he thought about it, Wither could remember that in past conversations between the two of them Spire had mentioned that he had a son, but Wither never would have guessed that it was Arragor. Arragor didn't look happy either. He had a look of disgust on his face, but as his father turned around to glare at him, his facial expression morphed before Spire could see it. Now he appeared to be mournful. He had his head dipped down and was looking at the ground like he was ashamed of himself and none too proud of what he had done. It also appeared to Wither as though he was angry for not being able to finish it. Then he raised his head and looked into Wither's eyes. "Wither, I'm sorry for what my friends and I did to you last night. That wasn't right. I don't know what we were thinking. If you could forgive us, we would love to get to know you better and be your friends."

Wither detected a gleam of mischief in Arragor's eyes as he said these last few words. Arragor was not only strong, he was clever too. He had put Wither on the spot in front of all these dragons. Wither looked around at everyone and saw that they were watching him, waiting to see what he would say. This made him angry. Arragor could apologize without meaning it, but he found a way to not only do that, but also created a situation to make Wither look bad. However, what Arragor didn't know was that Wither spent a lot of time with the elders and was wise beyond his years. "I accept your apology, but we will never be friends. Sure, friends fight every now and then, but they don't get a group of thugs to beat each other up when no one is looking. Also, if you truly wanted to be my friend, then you would have been a little kinder to me the first time we met. Don't think I have forgotten those cruel words that you spoke to me before you even got to know me. Oh, and don't bother apologizing for that. For that, I will not forgive you, because that was my first impression of you. That is how I will always think of you."

At this Wither turned around and walked back up the stairs. No one said a word. Everyone was a little shocked by Wither's resolve. Not even the snake-tongued Arragor knew what to say. He knew his plan had backfired. Rather than anger and trap Wither like he had planned, he had opened the door for Wither to shame and humiliate him even more than he already had been. It infuriated Arragor that such an ugly, tiny weakling got the better of him. From that moment on Arragor knew he and Wither would always be rivals.

Wither watched them leave from his usual place on the roof. He saw the four families break off and head their separate ways. As he watched the orange glint of Spire walking away he saw a smaller version of the elder turn around, and though it was too far away to see, Wither knew that he and Arragor were staring at each other.

The next few days were excruciatingly slow. Wither observed that when you really want something to happen it's like waiting for tomorrow, it never comes. He couldn't wait for the Great Awakening. It would change everything. It would give him a chance to prove himself, to be special.

Wither wasn't the only one who was excited about the big event. All around the city everyone was getting ready, preparing for the festival. Decorations were being set up all over the place. The plaza in the center of the city was by far the most changed. Big circles were being painted in a circle formation with a small circle in the center. Every circle was a different color. The Great Awakening was one of the greatest dragon holidays. It marked the day that the new dragon generation was finally mature enough to use their elemental powers. The ceremony would start off in the plaza, where the young dragons would be separated into their classes and herded off to their respective training grounds. Once there, the elders would 'persuade' their students to use the power that was already awakened inside them and waiting to be released. However, the ceremony at the start was quite an event to behold on its own. Each painted circle would contain a class. All the fire dragons would gather in the orange circle, and would be taught by Fire Master Spire. All the wind dragons would be put in the white circle and learn from Wind Master Valorie. The fear dragons would be placed in the red circle with Fear Master Vivian. The electric dragons would flock to the yellow circle and be placed under Lightning Master Volteer's tutelage. Ice dragons would be herded to the blue circle, where they would be greeted by Ice Master Cyril. There was a dark green circle for the earth dragons to wait in with Earth Master Terrador. A black circle would contain the new shadow dragons, which would be placed under Shadow Master Noh's care and a light green circle was painted for the poison dragons that would learn from Poison Master Hexus. All of these surrounded one final circle that was smaller than all the others. This would contain the special, rare dragons of the new generation who would be taught by the current Grand High Elder, Yarrow, who was a Life Master.

These teachers all made up the Council of Elders, as well as Wither's parents, Spyro the Purple Dragon and Cynder the Black Dragon, who were honorary elders due to the positions they held in society even though they weren't even close to the age that elders usually began to serve at. They were exempt from teaching duty due to the fact that there were still many things they needed to learn themselves and the fact that it was unanimously felt that they deserved to have the duties displaced to others. Even though it was twenty years after the war with Malefor and they were both thirty-five, it took many years to learn everything that a dragon should know. However, this didn't seem like too long to them due to the fact that dragons lived for about a thousand years. They were surprised to learn this fact once the elders had started teaching them when they returned to Warfang. Their combat training was long since over seeing as no one could defeat Spyro or Cynder in the ring, but they still read through many books from the Library of Dragon History, learning everything about every aspect of dragons that they needed to know.

Wither was no stranger to the knowledge that they pored over as he read the books that they tossed aside when they were done with them. He knew about as much about dragon history as they did, and he knew why they were so important. They were icons, heroes, idols. Everyone looked up to them, because if it weren't for them the whole world wouldn't even exist anymore. This put Wither in a bad spot; because of his parents' reputation big things were expected of him. Everyone was excited for the Great Awakening, but this one meant more. All the dragons in the city were waiting to see what Wither would become. The Great Awakening was a time for families to celebrate their children's powers awakening, but this time everyone would be watching Wither. He didn't know it yet, but he was going to be the star of the show. Wither was afraid that he may not be special like everyone told him. He just wanted to make his parents proud and live up to their expectations, but he was worried that he wouldn't be able to. After five days of agonizing waiting, Wither found himself once again worrying on the roof, looking out at the city all decked out for the occasion. The sun was setting over the horizon and all the buildings were turned a dark blue in contrast to the sky, which was red and orange off in the distance. Up above, the stars were starting to come out. The scene reminded him of the flower Yarrow had shown him and of the words he had spoken to put his mind at ease. As he thought of these things he heard his parents come up the stairs. They sat down on either side of him and looked out at the city with him. Cynder sighed and said, "It's beautiful isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," replied Wither.

Spyro looked down at his son and said, "This is your favorite spot. You've always loved sitting here on the roof, looking at the city." There was a pause before he continued. "Listen Wither, it's okay to be a little nervous, but your mother and I want you to know that no matter what happens tomorrow, you are our son and we will always love you."

Tears began to well up in Wither's eyes and he whispered, "Thank you." He then stood and told them he was tired and wanted to go to bed early to get some rest. After all, tomorrow was going to be a big day.

Wither woke up at six in the morning which was much earlier than he was used to, but today was different. Today was a day of celebration. Today was the Great Awakening! Wither ran down the stairs and found that his parents were already awake. "It's here! Today's the Great Awakening!" Spyro and Cynder beamed at their son's enthusiasm and excitement. This was the day everyone had been waiting for. No one would ever forget what happened on this day, for it would be recorded in the archives.

Everyone in Warfang was gathering in the center of the city. After a quick breakfast the three dragons left for the square where the Great Awakening would kick off. When they got there it seemed as though everyone was there. Dragons kept pouring into the plaza from all sides. The ceremony was scheduled to start at seven, so everyone had to be there soon. Wither looked at the center and saw that the elders had already taken their places inside their circles. In the very center he saw Yarrow sitting up staring into the crowd and smiling at everyone. He caught sight of Wither and gave a little wave. After a few moments the ancient dragon found his other pupil-to-be, Renna, and waved at her too.

The crowded plaza was filled with the sounds of dragons talking and laughing as they shared their thoughts about what might happen today. While Spyro and Cynder made their way to a place to sit and wait for the ceremony to start, everyone in the plaza started to notice their presence. Some of the noise around the little family began to die down and Wither heard people starting to whisper. One dragon hissed to his family and friends, "Hey, there are Spyro and Cynder! Wither has to be with them! Let's see . . . oh. My. Gosh. There he is! Incredible! I've never seen another dragon like him! I wonder what he'll be able to do." At the mention of his name, heads started to turn, eyes swiveled in his direction. Dragons young and old craned their necks around one another to get a glimpse of the mysterious enigma that had remained hidden for twelve long years. Now, after so long, he was finally making his first public appearance and people were getting lost in their excitement. The family sat down at a random spot at the edge of the mass of dragons that crowded around the circles that were set up for the students and did their best to ignore the people that were staring.

At five minutes until the ceremony began, Spyro leaned down and explained to Wither how it would work. Every young dragon would go to their circles and then they would go to their classes. The parents would go on the first day to witness the awakening of their children's powers. Normally, a day of school would consist of learning as much about their power as they could, but today was different. On this day, once a young dragon's power was awakened they would go home for the rest of the day and celebrate. After that, classes would be much more difficult.

After this brief explanation, Yarrow and the other masters spread their wings and immediately everyone in the crowd was hushed. Yarrow cleared his throat and shouted loud enough for everyone to hear, "All young dragons please proceed to your groups!"

Everywhere, proud parents were nudging excited children forward. All of them separated into their elemental groups. There were forty fire dragons, thirty-five electric dragons, thirty-three ice dragons, and twenty-seven earth dragons. These were the most common elements, which were followed by the more uncommon elements. There were thirteen wind and fear dragons each, nine shadow dragons, and eight poison dragons. This left only the rarest dragons, which were now standing in the center of the plaza with Yarrow. There was Renna, the ninth light dragon, and Wither, who was so rare his power was yet to be determined. Altogether, there were a hundred and eighty new students that would now begin their training.

Wither found himself next to Renna once again. She seemed very excited about beginning the development of her element. Turning to Wither she said, "Hello again. I was so excited when they told me we would make up our entire class."

Wither smiled at his new friend and said, "So was I, and knowing that Yarrow is going to be our teacher makes it even better. I've known him all my life and we're great friends. Trust me; you're going to love him."

Once everyone was separated into their classes Yarrow addressed the crowd. "Alright everyone, these are the groups you will get into every school day. Your teachers will now take you to your training grounds. That is where you will meet every day from now on at seven in the morning. Class will end at three in the afternoon every day. Some special lessons carry an exception about time and meeting location, but your teachers will tell you about that. Today we will work solely on unlocking your powers. After that you are free to go home for the day. Now, let the Great Awakening begin!"

As the teachers led all the students to their training grounds, Wither caught sight of Arragor, who was staring at him and Renna with angry eyes and . . . perhaps a hint of jealously? That didn't seem to make any sense. Wither assumed he imagined that last part. All the parents followed their children today because they didn't wish to miss their first time using their elemental powers, which was really something special. Wither and Renna followed Yarrow through the city and their parents followed behind them. After they left the plaza Renna asked, "So where are we going? Where are our training grounds?"

Yarrow turned around and replied, "Our normal lessons will take place at my house. Since there are only two of you and your parents, there should be more than enough room at the pavilion in the center of my garden. Oh, and by the way, I forgot to mention something. All of the teachers will explain this to everyone. Each elemental class has a ranking system. The rank that a dragon assumes depends on how well they do compared to their other classmates. Every now and then, the classes get together and students from different classes will be pitted against each other in the arena. This will determine the overall class rank. Just remember, it's friendly competition, don't hurt anyone too badly. There are rules and if you break them you could get into a little trouble. Also, don't worry too much about the class rank. It's only there to motivate everyone to do their best and to figure out who the top of the class are. Look on the bright side, the both of you are automatically number one in your elemental class, but I will rank you both together since you're in one class together."

After a few minutes, the seven of them arrived at the pavilion. Yarrow told the parents to sit back while he worked with the children. He had both of them sit in the middle of the pavilion while he sat in front of them. "The power that has been growing inside you since the day you were born has already awakened today. You just have to learn how to use it. There is little I can do to help you with this, but I will place you in certain circumstances that will . . . encourage you to use your powers. Are you ready?"

Wither and Renna looked at each other, then back at Yarrow and nodded. He smiled at them and said, "Then let's begin." He suddenly whipped around and smacked the two young dragons with his tail. They were shocked by the surprise attack. He was so fast, but he was an ancient dragon, who was over a thousand years old. They also couldn't believe that he would just attack them like that, and in front of their parents too! They looked over at their parents and saw that they were actually laughing at them. This must be how it's supposed to go, Wither thought, and Yarrow's attack hadn't really hurt, it was just a surprise. Wither looked up in time to see another tail swipe coming his way. He jumped out of the way just in time, but Renna was caught by the second one and tumbled a few feet away. Yarrow turned to Wither and shouted at him, "Defend yourself!" He lunged at Wither and bared his claws. Wither ducked, barely dodging the sharp knives that could have cut him.

"Hey! You could have sliced me!"

"I will if you give me the chance. I won't stop until I'm satisfied." Yarrow reared up and was about to come down on Wither when Renna jumped on his back and slashed at his head, but the older dragon's scales were like diamonds, nothing could penetrate his hide. He shook his head until Renna fell off and placed a paw on her to pin her down. Wither tried to save her, but vines suddenly shot out of the ground on either side of him, crisscrossed above him, and buried themselves in the ground on the opposite side that they had come out, thus pinning him in place. Yarrow drew his other fore paw back and prepared to slam Renna with it, but as it rushed toward her, she screamed in fear and a burst of blinding white light came roaring out of her mouth. The beam struck Yarrow square in the chest and knocked him on his back. When he got up, the scales where the beam had struck were blackened from the sheer heat of the intense light.

Yarrow sat down and congratulated Renna. "Excellent work Renna, you are done for today. You may go home if you wish, but you are free to watch me work with Wither. Witnessing his power will be something special. He is the first of his kind. Oh, I hope you know you were never in any danger. I'm always careful with my students, and we have some red healing crystals nearby just in case."

Hey, have you forgotten something?" Wither was still trapped by Yarrow's vines and was getting a little agitated that they were just talking while he was pinned to the ground.

Yarrow turned around and said, "Don't you worry. I'll get to you in a minute, Wither."

Renna ran over to her parents and asked them if they could stay and watch. They were more than happy to. After all, she had earned it, and he was all she had talked about ever since she met him. They could tell she really liked him. Plus, they too were eager to see what Wither could do. Once Renna was out of the way, the vines holding Wither in place slithered back underground. Wither picked himself up off the ground, but was immediately thrown back down with another tail swipe. He was starting to get angry now. Yarrow was his friend and teacher and Wither knew he was only doing his job, but he wasn't very happy about being tossed around and hit, especially in front of his parents and Renna. It was a little embarrassing to be treated this way while others were watching.

Yarrow ran toward him and clipped him with an outspread wing tip as he passed by. He turned sharply and jabbed Wither with a fore paw hard enough to knock the wind out of him. This sent a shock to Wither's system. He had never been hit that hard before. Yarrow spoke to him saying, "Reach deep within yourself and seize the power within. All dragons have a spark that controls a certain aspect of nature. We know this for a fact. In the beginning, when we were created, it was promised that all dragons would be born with their own power. It is on this day that it can finally be used. Find that spark, find your element, feel what you can control and force it to do your bidding." Then he lunged forward and was about to strike. Wither searched himself and found nothing. He felt nothing. Whatever Yarrow had just described, Wither didn't feel it. Yarrow was about to charge into him and in a desperate attempt to unleash any kind of power he opened his mouth and tried to blast something, anything at Yarrow. He only roared a small child's roar at Yarrow. It didn't sound like a frightening roar of courage and anger, but rather a frustrated cry of desperation. Just as Yarrow was about to flatten him, Wither put his head down and squeezed his eyes shut so he couldn't see it coming. It never did come. Wither opened his eyes and looked up at Yarrow who had stopped and was staring down at him with a worried expression on his face.

He bent down and looked into Wither's eyes. He seemed to be searching for something in them. After a moment he asked, "What's wrong, Wither? Don't you feel anything?"

Wither shook his head and croaked, "No. I don't feel anything at all. I looked inside myself like you told me to, but there's nothing there. It's like that part of myself you were talking about is just . . . missing."

Yarrow sat up and thought for a moment. "That's odd. Every dragon has always been able to feel the spark of their power inside them on the day of the Great Awakening." At these words Yarrow saw a look of panic cross Wither's face and he quickly added, "Ah, but don't worry. Every dragon had an elemental power. It's a part of who we are. We'll find your power, but I think we'll have to use a different method to do so." Yarrow then turned around and told Renna and her parents that they should go ahead and go home to celebrate. They seemed worried and kept glancing back at Wither as they left the pavilion and went home.

Hours passed and no matter what Yarrow did, no matter what he told Wither to do, they could not find Wither's power. After every failure Wither became more and more afraid that there really was nothing special about him after all. However, every time some new technique failed to produce any results, Yarrow seemed to become more curious and even a little entertained. It was almost as if he was enjoying the challenge. Finally, at seven in the afternoon, Yarrow sat back and said, "Well, aren't you a mystery my little friend? I do believe this is a record for taking the longest to use your power for the first time. Don't forget though, all dragons have power, you're just complicated. Whatever your power is, it must be great to be so well hidden. It's getting late. I think you should go home, get some rest, and come back here tomorrow for class. While I help Renna begin to tune her powers, I will also help you find yours. Don't tell anyone that you couldn't find it today; you're at a disadvantage now. Everyone has access to their elemental powers now, but you don't. People may try to take advantage of that. Don't lose faith either; I don't care how long it takes to find your power, even if it takes a year. I'm your friend and your teacher. I will never give up on you and I will never lose faith in you. Now go home and get some rest. I will have more tests for you tomorrow."

During the walk home Spyro and Cynder did their best to cheer their son up, but he was so disappointed and depressed that nothing made him happy. They reminded him that he was their son and they would always love him no matter what. He knew they were telling the truth, but it didn't help. All these years he had been told that he was different, rare, and special. He had always held on to that. He had always thought that maybe, just maybe he really was special, but today was a big blow to his self-esteem. He knew he should listen to Yarrow and his parents, but the thought that he was the only dragon with no powers to speak of just killed him. Oh well, he'd just have to keep trying and trust the elders. Then, to block out the pain, he curled up on his bed and fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 4 Powerless

Chapter 4- Powerless

"In the beginning there was nothing. Then the gods said, 'Let there be light.'" This was the first entry written in the Book of Light. On the second day of school Yarrow brought Wither and Renna to the library. There were countless shelves that seemed to stretch on into the infinite halls of the massive building. Each shelf appeared to rise up to the ceiling a hundred feet up. The shelves were arranged in a circular pattern around a large open area with lots of tables under a dome with beautiful and intricate depictions of significant events in dragon history. There was one that portrayed the pact that was formed between dragons and moles, kicking off the construction of Warfang. Another showed the brilliant and indisputably most intelligent dragon who ever lived, Ichor, creating the crysys, the device that was able to use crystals to universally power any mechanism. There was another that showed the gathering of dragons that met to form the treaty that ended the ice dragon uprising. Another once showed the elders teaching Malefor how to master all the elements, but the city had long ago elected to paint over it with a new image of Spyro and Cynder casting him into the heart of the world to suffer for eternity.

Several of these paintings were drawn in a circle around a central picture that was meant to be a depiction of the images that once swam before the mind of a long forgotten prophet. All that was visible was a large pair of eyes that clearly belonged to a dragon. They stared straight down at the center of the room, ever watchful of those who studied in silence. No one could remember what the picture meant anymore or why it had been drawn there in the first place, but every time a meeting was held to vote on whether they should paint over it with something else due to the complaints of dragons who claimed that the eyes were creepy, they always seemed to somehow find favor in leaving it up. The eyes did appear to drill into ones soul. The longer one stared into the strange eyes that were violet at the whites and electric blue at the irises, the more hypnotized they became by them. Once, a dragon had been reported to be observed standing at the center of the library, staring up into the eyes for three days, before someone caught their attention and informed them of their actions. Once the trance was broken, they fell over in fatigue, having been drained by their catatonic stupor. This was the only extreme event that had ever occurred, but people were still occasionally caught staring up into the eyes. It was policy now for people who worked in the library to snap people out of it if they were caught in the spell of the eyes. However, hardly anyone ever looked into the eyes anymore. Mostly only younglings did it as part of a dare. The mystery surrounding the eyes was one of the most intriguing things that the city could boast of, and many people wanted to keep the mystery alive, so the painting stayed.

The shelves below contained countless books on any subject one could possibly think of, but there was a small section that contained a special set of books that were set apart from all the others. These were what Yarrow and his students were looking through now. For every element that dragons have ever controlled, there was a book for that element, collectively written by the first nine dragons to share that power. Yarrow thought the second day of school would be well spent learning dragon history. "Before you begin to develop and master your element, you should know more about it. These books give excellent techniques and descriptions on how to channel energy, focus power, and perform different attacks in combat using your element."

Renna looked up at Yarrow and asked, "Yarrow, did you say earlier today that the first nine dragons to share an element write an elemental book?"

"Why yes, Renna, that is correct."

Renna then turned to her other side where Wither was sitting staring at all the books that were so useless to him. "Wither?"

Wither snapped out of his depression and stared at Renna. "What is it?"

"That day, in the park, when we first met, didn't you say that I was the ninth light dragon to be born?"

"Yes, that's right. I know that because Yarrow told me. You know, as rare as you are, Yarrow is only the fourth life dragon who has ever lived. That's why they call this the special class. We're all one of a kind. We fit together because we are the same in that we are different."

Yarrow was pleased with this small display of wisdom on Wither's part and foresight on Renna's. "Very good, Wither. That is very insightful of you." He then turned his attention to Renna and said, "I see that you have made the connection. Yes Renna, it is your duty to read the Book of Light and fill its remaining blank pages, just as I have made entries in the Book of Life over the centuries." Yarrow then turned back to Wither and said, "And then there's you, Wither. While Renna will be finishing the Book of Light, you shall begin a whole new book of power. However, we must first find that power. Oh, by the way, it may interest you to know that once you find your power, you get the honor of naming it, the book you will begin, and what kind of dragon you are due to the fact that you are the first of your kind."

"Yeah, great. If I even have a power."

"Now Wither, don't say that. Every dragon has control over a certain aspect of nature. There have never been any exceptions to that rule and you are not the first." Due to Wither's vulnerability no one was allowed to know that he was currently powerless. The only exceptions were Spyro, Cynder, Yarrow, Renna, and of course, Wither himself. The secret couldn't be kept from Renna due to the fact that she was in the same class as Wither. The first thing they did today was make her swear that she would never tell a soul.

She didn't have a problem with that since she was his friend now. She didn't know why, but ever since they had met she always felt comfortable around him, like she could just be herself and not have to worry about him making fun of her for anything. Of course, Renna wasn't giving herself enough credit. She was the single most popular dragon in the new generation. Most of the other girls envied her for the way she made boys act. Not that that was her fault, she didn't parade herself around or act like a popular girl normally would. She was just so beautiful. Her bright white scales sparkled brightly in the sun. When she walked around during the day, white spots danced around her on the ground and on walls. At noon, when the sun was highest in the sky, it could sometimes be slightly painful to look at her. At night the moon's soft glow cast a wondrous aura over her that outlined her form in a dreamy white blue light that seemed to waver slightly with her movements.

Everyone was also attracted to the power that they knew she would eventually wield. Light dragons were rare for a reason. The powers of even a youngling gifted with the light rivaled those of the strongest, most experienced dragons. Yarrow pointed out that someday, when Renna was older and more experienced, she may even do well in a bout against Spyro or Cynder. However, they were in a class of their own. This was great praise because everyone knew that Spyro and Cynder were by far the most talented fighters in Warfang. Their powers were above and beyond those of any normal dragon due to their unique ability to wield all of the elements. This made them impossible to defeat in the arena. Even Yarrow, who challenged Spyro for fun one day, could not best the prodigy.

However, Yarrow was the oldest dragon in Warfang, so he was the teacher for the special class. He looked to his students and said, "Alright, Renna, you start reading the Book of Light while I work with Wither." Renna was fine with this arrangement. She was interested in reading her book of power. After all, she would have to finish it. She also knew that Wither needed help finding his power and no one could help him more than their wise, old teacher, Yarrow.

Renna began to read the Book of Light while Yarrow led Wither deeper into the library. They passed many shelves filled with books about everything from the origin of dragons and their powers to cures for dragon illnesses. The library was a treasure trove of information. Everything there was to know about dragons was recorded and stored here for all to see. However, there was a collection of books about the weaknesses of dragons and the darker aspects of their magical powers that was kept under lock and key, safeguarded by the Council of Elders. No one could access these books without permission from the majority of the council. At least six of the eleven elders had to approve. These books were a curiosity and many wished to view them, some with good intentions, and some with decidedly not so pure intentions. However, these books were not what Yarrow had in mind. He searched the shelves and said, "Let's see what books can tell us. Common tactics like scaring your power out of you didn't work. We tried a little meditating and that didn't work either. I know there aren't any books about your power because you're the first of your kind, but perhaps some of the books here can help us."

It turned out that none of the books helped. They spent the whole day searching through many different books, but found nothing that would help. After a few days of searching, Renna came up to them to inform Yarrow that she had finished reading the Book of Light. At this, Yarrow closed the book he was searching through and told Wither to do the same. It was nearing the end of class time and it was the end of the first week of school. He told Renna she could go home early, so she wished Wither luck on finding his element soon and left the library.

Yarrow looked at Wither after she left and said, "You fascinate me. A whole week of trying, and yet, nothing, but don't give up. I'll keep trying. I promise you we'll find it, and when we do you'll be surprised. It will probably happen in an unexpected way. I bet we'll be thinking why we hadn't tried whatever triggered it before. It's probably something so simple we've just overlooked it. I will talk with the elders over the weekend and see if, collectively, we can think of something. Until then, go home and enjoy yourself. We're done for today."

Yarrow walked Wither home. He did so every day to ensure his safety. Wither walked a few steps in front of Yarrow because he was always eager to get home. Usually, nothing ever happened, but today, as Wither turned a corner on the street, he found himself staring at Arragor and his friends. Wither turned and looked at Yarrow with wide eyes, making him stop. He was still around the corner where the other boys couldn't see him. To Arragor and his friends, Wither appeared to be quite alone. Arragor stepped forward and said, "Well, if it isn't the mysterious oddity that everyone is still forced to wonder about. You know, nobody seems to know what your element is, and everyone is curious. Why don't you enlighten us? We're dying to know what you can do." Wither could tell that, as cocky as Arragor was, he did seem a little afraid of Wither now. He didn't know what he could do. Arragor continued, "You must be quite powerful, I'm sure. We are too, you know. All four of us are at the top of our classes. We seem to be leaving everyone behind. We must just be naturally gifted with great power. My father says that I'm already months ahead of everyone else. He says that I'm a prodigy, that I have a natural affinity with my element. Everyone says that I will probably be number one in the overall class. However, I don't know what you can do, which isn't right. You have an unfair advantage. It's obvious what my element is, but no one knows about you. So tell me, what is your power?"

Wither looked at Arragor and his friends and took a step forward. He took deep pleasure in the fact that they all took a step back. Allowing himself a small smile, he asked Arragor, "You want to know what my element is?" He waited while they looked at him in anticipation. They were afraid of him for once and curious as to what he could do, but Wither knew that would only last as long as they didn't know the truth. He continued, "Well, you'll just have to wait until we're in the arena."

Arragor didn't like this answer. "If you won't tell us now, then we'll just have to force you to defend yourself. You'll have to use your power with the four of us against you."

When Yarrow heard this he stepped around the corner and said, "I think not. That's enough for today. Arragor, this isn't the first time you've been a problem with Wither. Your father will hear about this. You should know better. No fighting outside the arena or class. Now go home, all of you."

Caught in the act again, Arragor and his friends ran home. Wither turned to Yarrow and asked in a whisper, "Yarrow, what if I haven't found my power by the end of the first month of class? That's when the competition in the arena begins. I would be destroyed out there."

Yarrow looked in the direction the boys had run and said, "I will talk to the other elders this weekend. We'll try to find your power before the competition, but if we can't, you will be excluded from arena fights until we do. You will go to the bottom of the class, but I have faith that you will be able to work your way up once you find your element. Who knows? Maybe you will find your power before that. We'll just have to wait and see."

Wither didn't exactly enjoy his weekend. He spent hours in his room or on the roof alone trying to use the power that seemed to be missing in him. His parents left him alone at home most of the time, because they were busy in all of the meetings about him. The entire Council of Elders was shocked when they learned of Wither's misfortune. They worked all weekend at trying to come up with ways of drawing his power out. Spyro and Cynder left early in the morning and came home late at night exhausted on both Saturday and Sunday. On Monday they escorted Wither to class again and left once he was in Yarrow's care. Yarrow appeared to be as tired as his parents when Wither saw him. He didn't look like he had gotten much sleep over the weekend as he turned his droopy eyes on Wither and said, "Did you make any miraculous discoveries over the weekend?"

When Wither shook his head, Yarrow smiled bitterly and replied, "Well, the council didn't really know what to say. Your case is so unique that no one knows what to do about it. Some suggestions were given, but I don't think any of them would help. All the elders are worried about you, Wither. We've been talking about this matter for days. Oh well, I will keep trying. That's all we can do. That's all anyone can do."

Yarrow spent the better part of the day going back and forth between Wither and Renna. While Renna started learning the basics of controlling light, Wither meditated and tried to find the spark of power inside him. When class was over, Wither had still made no progress. He began to feel depressed, feeling that he had no power to find.

Yarrow walked him home again as he did every day, but they ran into Arragor again. Yarrow began to tell him and his friends to go home, but Arragor had a gleeful shimmer in his eyes and said, "I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted last week. I didn't realize you had no power!"

Wither had never felt so embarrassed, afraid, and ashamed in all his life. Yarrow had never been so shocked and angry in all his life, which was saying something, considering he had lived through the rise and fall of the Dark Master on both occasions. He whipped his head down to face the sneering little child. "How did you find out about that?

Arragor seemed very smug and pleased with himself, even in the face of the Grand High Elder. He was enjoying the knowledge of Wither's weakness. "I snuck down the stairs very quietly when father came home last night. I heard him whispering all about it to Volteer."

Yarrow was outraged, "You four are never to reveal this to anyone. Do you understand me?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was such a secret. I thought everyone had the right to know, so I told everyone."

Yarrow whipped around and slammed Arragor with his tail like he did to Wither during the first day of training, only this time it was with full force. Arragor screamed as he flew through the air and smacked into the nearest building, slumping on the ground in a twitching heap. Yarrow was a wise dragon that had achieved enlightenment of an impressive degree in his old age. This meant that he was normally the picture of tranquility, but he couldn't help but let his anger crack through his calm demeanor as he roared at Arragor, "How dare you! You had no right to do that! You're coming with me!"

Wither had known Yarrow all his life and had always thought of him as the calm and peaceful dragon that he invariably proved to be, but now Yarrow was furious. Wither had never seen him this angry before, and it scared him. Yarrow took Wither home, Arragor close behind, and then took the little brat home. He would have taken all the boys home, but the rest had scattered when Yarrow attacked Arragor.

Spyro and Cynder were also enraged when Yarrow told them what had happened, but there was nothing they could do about it now. The secret was out; Wither was powerless. Renna came over later and told him she was sorry that everyone knew. She was angry beyond words, but she did manage to tell Wither that she wanted to blind Arragor for what he did. "I'm not surprised. I've known him since we were little. It sounds like something he would do."

Wither asked her what everyone was saying about it. At first she was hesitant to tell him, but at his urging, she gave in. "It's a big controversy. Everyone is taking sides. Some laugh about you with Arragor, while others think it's cruel to treat you that way. Most of those people just feel sorry for you, but there are a few who would like to meet you and stand up for you. They're friends of mine and if you don't mind, they may come over to see you today."

A few minutes later Renna was proven correct when her friends came over and gathered around Wither. They were all very respectful to Spyro and Cynder and were genuinely eager to meet Wither. Renna introduced them to Wither, pointing to each one as she named them off.

First, there was a red fear dragon named Tera. Her body was the color of blood, but she had a yellow belly with icy blue wings. The three horns that sat atop her head played upward, which appeared to match her tail spade. Next to her was what looked like an exact replica of her, only with different coloring. The body of this dragoness was light green, indicating that she was a poison dragon. Her belly was yellow green and she had bright yellow wings. She turned out to be Tera's twin sister, Vera.

Next to her was a white dragon named Sora. She had a soft blue belly and sunny wings of yellow. Her scales were the same color as Renna's, but they didn't give off the tell-tale glow that marked a light dragon. This made her a wind dragon. She had two horns that curved back just like Wither's and shared his oval shaped tail spade that tapered to a slight point. She just stood off to the side, not really saying much. Wither thought she seemed like the quiet type and was definitely a little shy about meeting someone new. When he glanced at her from out of the corner of his eye, he saw her observing everything. She took in her surroundings; admiring the ground floor of the tower that Wither's family lived in. He also noticed that she seemed to be studying him too, though he didn't know why. When he looked at her, she would cast her gaze down to the floor or to another one of her friends and pretend she hadn't been staring.

The only boy among the group was a black shadow dragon named Psy. He had a white belly and grey wings that looked a lot like Wither's. Four horns ran down the back of his head in a Mohawk and he had a silver scythe for a tail spade that had a deadly edge in the curve and came to a nasty looking point. Despite these less than friendly physical attributes, he appeared to be a very easy going dragon. He had a permanent grin plastered on his face and a look of mischief in his eyes. Wither imagined that this dragon knew how to have fun, but hoped that he didn't ever do anything to get in trouble.

Wither couldn't help but notice that all of Renna's friends had powers in the uncommon class, making them naturally a little stronger than most of those who held claim to an element in the common class like Arragor and his gang. He also noticed that they really did want to get to know him. They were all angry that Arragor had tried to ruin his name, and also brought Wither news that some people were commenting on how ugly he was. After seeing the hurt look on his face, they proceeded to tell him that they didn't think he was ugly. They all thought he was interesting. Sora started to come out of her shell and said, "Just because your scales are grey and don't shine, doesn't mean you look bad." She leaned in and whispered so that only Wither could hear, "Renna has told us that she thinks you're kind of cute."

Wither blushed at this and stared at Sora in mild shock, which caused Psy to raise an eye brow and say, "Wow, would you look at that. I didn't know dragon's scales could change color . . . that fast."

They all laughed at that and Renna asked Sora, "What did you say to him? Not even Tera's scales get that red when _she's_ embarrassed."

Vera answered for her saying, "She probably told him how you've been wanting to get to know him a little better."

"Vera!" Now it was Renna's turn to go red in the face as she swat Vera's forearm. The rest of the girls were laughing at her while she yelled at them.

While this unfolded, Psy turned to Wither and rolled his eyes. "Girls. Heh, but they're right you know. Renna really likes you. I'm sure we'll all become great friends."

After he said this, Wither looked around at all of his new friends that had already taken him in as one of their own like he had been a member of their little group since he was a hatchling. Tears began to well up in his eyes, but no one noticed until one ran down his face. The girls stopped fussing and Renna asked, "Wither, what's wrong?"

Wither sniffled and replied, "Nothing. It's just that . . . I've never had any friends before. This is the first time I've ever just sat around and talked with anyone my age. I've always had to sit on the roof and watch everyone have fun and grow up without me."

Sora said, "Yeah, everyone always saw your tiny silhouette way up at the top of your tower. We always dreamed of meeting you and now we finally get to talk."

Tera added, "Yeah, you're great. It's too bad that everyone can't see that. Arragor is an idiot."

Vera got angry and continued her sister's rant saying, "I just want to get in the ring with that creep and spit poison in his eyes. I've always had a problem with that jerk, but this time he went way too far."

Psy nodded and continued, "Why don't you hang out with us from now on instead of being cooped up here all day every day. If Arragor or anyone else tries to give you any trouble, we'll protect you."

Wither looked around at them and they all nodded in agreement. Renna said, "Yes, please Wither, would you be our friend? Would you like to join our group?"

Wither started laughing. He laughed and laughed until he started to cry again and he said, "Yes! Yes, of course. I'd love to be a part of your group."

Suddenly, the group of five became six and Psy said, "Well, it's about time! I was getting tired of being the only guy in the group."

The next day at class, Yarrow told Wither and Renna that they would be taking time off of elemental lessons to learn a little about the dragon lifespan. After a groan from Renna he said, "Come on now, it's not going to be boring, I swear. First off, I want to ask you a question. Have any of you ever seen moles or cheetahs?" Both nodded, though Renna was more familiar with the other races than Wither. "Good. How long do you think they live?"

Renna shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't know . . . a thousand years?"

"Not even close, Renna. That's how long the average dragon lives. What do you think, Wither?"

"Well, I think I remember reading somewhere once that moles and cheetahs rarely live past a hundred."

"Very good, that is correct."

"Ugh, a hundred years?" asked Renna. "How do they get anything done? I would freak if you told me I only had a hundred years to live."

"They do the best with what they're given, but that's not the point. With such a drastically big difference between the lifespan of dragons and other races, the maturing process is considerably different as well."

"What? You mean they grow up faster than we do?" asked Wither.

"Yes and no. Dragons are considerably different in this way for two reasons. First, due to the longer lifespan, dragons mature physically at a normal rate when compared to that of someone from another race. However, the aging process of dragons slows down drastically at about the age of twenty or so. Once we reach this age, we grow older roughly twelve times slower than the other races."

"So every year of our life is like twelve years to the others?" asked Renna.

"Yes, that's one way to put it."

"So what's the second difference?" asked Wither.

"I'm glad you asked. The second difference is the way we mature mentally. Now, while we age at a normal rate during our formative years when compared to, say, cheetahs then slow down, we do something similar when it comes to what's going on upstairs." Yarrow tapped his temple with a claw to make sure they got his point. "For whatever reason, we dragons mature at a slightly accelerated rate in our minds, so when you look at an eight year old mole, they are at about the same level as a six year old dragon, and a twelve year old dragon is at the same mental age as a sixteen year old cheetah. Do you understand?"

"I think so," said Wither.

"Yeah, seems to make sense," agreed Renna.

"Good. Like the aging process, this accelerated rate eventually slows down too. The change in rate happens at the same time as the one for aging. So by the time the processes slow down dragons are about five years ahead of the other races."

"How fast do we age mentally compared to other races after the change?" asked Renna.

"From what we can tell, it's the same."

"That's cool."

"Yes, I suppose it is 'cool.'" For the rest of the day, Yarrow taught his students other lessons about their dragon heritage. At the end of class he informed them that the next class would be about the crystals that grew for the dragons.

The next day, he explained that these naturally occurring crystals came from the earth and happened to be filled with energy that dragons could absorb and use in different ways. The old dragon had some with him and showed them to the curious younglings. They had heard of the different kinds of crystals that dragons used to boost their strength in times of need, but had never actually seen them up close. Yarrow began to explain how each one worked. There were red crystals that could heal dragons' injuries if they weren't too serious. Green crystals could restore the energy to the spark inside a dragon if their power was exhausted from overusing their element. There were blue crystals that would permanently enhance a dragon's elemental abilities. These were strictly off limits to young dragons in training because it was thought that young dragons should learn how to use their powers effectively through the power of hard work and discipline, rather than have vast power handed to them. There were exceedingly rare purple crystals that could send a dragon spiraling into a furious rage, which granted them a brief moment of extreme power beyond normal limits. These were also not to be given to young dragons who had not reached the lesson of dragon fury, a special ability that all dragons had locked deep inside them. Yarrow told them that they would have to read the Book of Fury before they got the chance to absorb some fury crystals.

There was also a fifth type of crystal that Yarrow said didn't exist anymore. He explained to the young pupils that before they were born, in the time of the second coming of the Dark Master, there were black crystals, created by Malefor himself. They seemed to be negative versions of the green crystals. He told them that if a dragon got too close to one, it would suck the magic right out of them. Thankfully, they were destroyed when Malefor was. Wither had heard of these crystals before. His parents had recounted tales of their dark powers, and while they explained that they were evil, Wither had always been fascinated by them. He was disappointed that there wasn't one to join the collection of samples Yarrow had brought to show them. He had always imagined them when his parents talked about them. They said that they were black, sharp, jagged, and chaotic in shape, drew your power in no matter how much you had and wouldn't stop until they were destroyed, and were almost impossible to break due to their unnatural density and durability. His parents always talked about them with such distaste, but Wither always wondered if maybe they were just misunderstood. Just because they were created by an evil person and used for evil, didn't mean they were evil.

Yarrow began talking again and Wither snapped back to attention. "Now I will have you absorb some of the red and green crystals to show you how they work. We'll trying the red crystals first and then the green ones. I'm sorry, but I'll have to give you both a little gash to show you the healing powers of the red crystals." He extended his forepaw and gave them both a quick swipe down their flanks. They gasped when he did so, but they weren't deep wounds. "Now put your paw on the crystal and the energy within will flow into you and heal your wound."

They both did as they were told, selecting a large red crystal to share, and when they touched it they felt a soothing rush as the crystal got smaller and their wounds closed up and disappeared. There were no marks, no scars, and no indication that there was even an opening in their flesh just moments before. "That's amazing!" shouted Renna in amazement. "The gash is completely gone, and so is the pain."

Yarrow nodded with a big smile. "Yes, the crystals are directly related with our power and wellbeing. Without them we would have a hard time healing or regenerating our magic. Doing those things on our own takes time. Now let's try the green crystals. You will both experience a rush of power, which will then dissipate until you have gone back down to your current maximum magic capacity."

Renna grabbed a small green crystal and watched it dissolve in her paw. She raised her head and breathed deeply through her nostrils, then let out a long, deep sigh. "That was wonderful. I feel completely rejuvenated."

Yarrow nodded again and said, "As you should be. Go on now, Wither. It's your turn."

Wither found a medium sized crystal and placed a paw on it. He began to scream as the color in the crystal drained away into his paw. Wither fell on the ground and began to shake. He did so until all color in the crystal drained into him. It became nothing more than a clear husk, and then it turned to dust and crumbled in his grasp. Once the crystal was gone Wither stopped convulsing and lay still as Yarrow ran to help him.


	6. Chapter 5 The Competition

Chapter 5- The Competition

"Wither . . . Wither, are you alright?"

Wither opened his eyes and looked up to see Yarrow and Renna staring down at him. They both had worried expressions on their faces. He tried to stand, but fell down with a gasp and started shaking again. He felt very cold, his breath came in quick, shallow gasps, and he felt like he was going to be sick. Yarrow looked up and said, "Back up Renna, let's give him some space."

"Why did it do that to him, Yarrow? I've heard about the crystals before. My parents told me about them. They said that they give life and strength to all dragons. Is it possible for them to hurt some dragons?"

"No, child. This isn't just some rare occurrence that some dragons experience. This is the first time in history that the crystals have had a negative effect on a dragon. They were created for us. Their sole purpose is to be used by us. This should not have happened. I must tell the council about this today." Yarrow looked back down to Wither who was beginning to stand up. "Are you alright, Wither?"

Wither swayed a bit as he sat down, trying to focus his eyes. "I'm fine now. I just . . . I just needed to lie down for a while." He looked over at Yarrow and Renna and took a few deep breaths, trying to push back the remnants of that sick feeling at the back of his throat. When he had it under control he said, "You know, it didn't really hurt. It was just shocking."

Renna took a step forward and asked, "What happened? What was it like?"

"Well, I touched the crystal and immediately felt the energy course through my entire body."

Yarrow interrupted, "Yes, it's supposed to feel like that. The energy leaves the crystal and is transferred to you, leaving you feeling rejuvenated."

"Yeah, well it didn't do that. I felt the energy come out of the crystal and then it burned its way to my core. It filled me up, took me over. I felt like I was drowning in it. There was too much energy."

Yarrow frowned and shook his head. "No. No, that's not right. This is so new to me." Then his eyes widened and he began to smile. He looked at Wither and Renna and said, "Wither, this must have something to do with your element. It makes sense. You're the first dragon of your kind and you're the first dragon to have a negative reaction to the crystals. We have made an important discovery! This is another step closer to finding your power. Wither, I believe that it is safe to say that we are finally making progress." Yarrow turned to Renna and said, "I believe that is enough for today. You may go home early."

"What? But we've only been here for about ten minutes."

"It matters not. I've told you everything you needed to know for the day and to be quite honest; it's probably stuff every dragon your age already knows. Just consider this a day off."

Renna scampered home and Yarrow escorted Wither home. Spyro and Cynder were both surprised to see their son home from class so early. Yarrow couldn't wait to tell them the good news about their discovery. When he was through with his explanation he asked Wither and his parents if it was alright with them that they continue to experiment with the crystals on Wither. Spyro and Cynder agreed immediately and after a little coaxing from the three of them, Wither gave Yarrow his consent to try using the crystals on him again. Yarrow told Spyro and Cynder that there would be a council meeting later at night and bade them farewell.

Spyro and Cynder left Wither by himself to go to the meeting. It ran late and Wither decided to go to bed. He nestled down into his pillows and drifted off to sleep. A bright light made him squeeze his eyes even further shut, but once he was more adjusted to the sudden burst of blinding light, he opened his eyes. When he did, he found that he was surrounded by the green crystals. He felt their power washing over him, rushing through him, drowning him in an endless sea of overwhelming energy. The power was too much for him. It filled him up and suffocated him. He was about to pass out when the crystals shrank away, their power spent. Once more, Wither was surrounded by darkness. The crystals were gone and now it was just Wither and nothing else. Nothing. And it was glorious. He was floating in a never ending abyss and while he thought he should be afraid, he felt at ease and gave a sigh, reveling in the blackness, relishing its embrace. He felt at home here and he wished that he never had to leave, but then a bright light shone from far away again. At first, he feared that the crystals were returning, but then he realized that it was simply the light of day coming in through his window.

That day at class, Yarrow told Renna that she could focus her light energy into a single concentrated beam or diffuse it for a wide shot that was less powerful, but more accurate. He told her that once she could use the light both ways, she was to come to him. Once she started, Yarrow gave an approving nod and walked over to Wither. "Now, let's have another go with these crystals, shall we?"

Both of them were eager to begin, though Wither was only eager to get it over with. They turned their attention to some piles of crystals. There was a pile for each type of crystal they went over the previous day, with the unfortunate exception, Wither noted, of the black crystals. "Yarrow, you don't mean to try all of these on me do you? Some of these are off limits to dragons my age."

"I'm sure you noticed that your parents didn't come home until very late last night. The reason why is because the council had a very long discussion about using certain crystals on young dragons. However, after a ferocious debate, your parents and I convinced the rest of the council that you are a special case, and they approved of exposing you to every crystal type for the sake of finding your element. You seemed to have a normal reaction to the red crystals, so why don't we start with the green ones?" Yarrow took a green crystal from the pile and set it down in front of the leery dragon. "Go ahead and grab the crystal. I will be observing your reactions to the crystals.

Wither took hold of the crystal and felt the energy surge forward and wash through him. This time he was more prepared for it, but he still felt the energy build up in his chest and his head. It gave him a slight headache and after a moment he fell to his knees, breathing deeply so as to not throw up. After he consumed the entire crystal he started shaking and lay down. Yarrow put his paw on Wither's forehead. "Oh! You're cold. I wasn't expecting that. Tell me how you feel."

Wither explained the effects the crystal had on him to the old dragon, who wrinkled his face in thought. After a moment he said, "Well, it seems to me that these crystals are having the opposite effect that they should on you. Rather than giving you strength, they are weakening you."

Wither stood up and gave a small shiver. "I feel better now. It takes a while for it to wear off."

"Well then, we should try another crystal now. Hmm . . . which would you like to use next, the blue crystals, or the purple ones?"

"The blue crystals make dragon's elements stronger right?"

"Yes, that is what they are intended for. It was hardest convincing the council to let you have some of these. They are off limits to all dragons your age. Even the purple crystals can be consumed by you youngsters during the right lesson, but only adults are allowed to use these, and only if it's a special case. The only dragons who have ever had these crystals at your age would be your parents for obvious reasons. Maybe if you give your element a boost then you can find it, eh? Go on. Try the blue ones."

Wither looked over at the forbidden blue crystals. Young dragons were denied these because of the power they gave dragons. It was long decided that dragons should be taught how to use their powers and develop them on their own first. Then, once a dragon has mastered its element, they are allowed to consume blue crystals so that their power grows beyond what could have been achieved all by oneself.

Wither grabbed a rather large crystal, the bigger the crystal, the bigger the boost. He wanted to find his element so that he wouldn't be a misfit anymore and went for the largest one in the pile. Once he had a hold of it, he felt the energy pour into him. It wasn't like the green crystals; the power from this crystal was different. The sapphire gem began to shrink away as the power was transferred to him. He felt the strange sensation worm around inside his body, working its way to his core. Once it reached the place where Wither imagined a dragon's spark to be, the oddest thing happened. The power from the crystal touched his heart and gave a shudder, causing the crystal to stop shrinking, and then the energy gave a violent lurch and traveled back the way it had come. The crystal grew until all the energy was safe inside it and stopped at its original size. Wither stared at it, then up at Yarrow, who was staring at the crystal, mouth slightly open, with blank eyes. Then Wither noticed out of the corner of his eye that Renna was staring at him with a gaze of mild shock and curiosity. After a moment, Yarrow said, "That wasn't supposed to happen."

It was a simple statement, but to Wither, it felt like a blow to the chest. Yarrow looked at Wither, who was still staring at the gem in his paw. The ancient dragon saw the look in his eyes; they looked at the blue gem and seemed to ask, 'Why?' Yarrow asked the disappointed dragon, "Tell me what happened from your point of view."

Wither dropped the crystal and looked up. "It rejected me."

"What do you mean?"

"It started to work, but when the energy got to my heart, it recoiled and went back into the crystal. After that, nothing happened."

Yarrow sat and thought for a while. He dipped his head and gave a sigh. "The crystals are a source of energy for _all_ dragons. They have always provided power for us and they always will. I can't understand why they treat you differently. I don't have an answer for what this can mean."

Wither looked away and said, "Maybe it means I don't have any power after all."

For the first time, Yarrow didn't argue with him. Instead, he looked at the piles and said, "Try a purple fury crystal. They fill all dragons with a near uncontrollable rage that bursts out in a wave of terrible power. A young dragon such as you doesn't have the training to hold that power in. You will be forced to unleash a devastating maelstrom of your element." He walked over to where Renna stood watching and told her to get behind him. "Go on, Wither. Try the purple crystals."

Wither grabbed the nearest one and prepared himself. Yarrow was right, the crystal didn't just give him energy, it pumped a wild, seething hatred deep into his mind. It ran through his veins and into his eyes, blocking out the world in a blinding fury. He was shaking again, but it wasn't because it was making him ill, he felt the anger and the power that came with it, but he didn't understand it. He didn't know where it came from and it felt foreign to him. Never had he known such anger. It then occurred to him that the anger was not his own and neither was the power; it didn't belong to him. He tried to transform the energy back into a crystal, but it was rooted in his mind. It wouldn't go back the way it had come like the blue crystal's energy. He felt it rip through him, trying to find his power, trying to use it as an escape, to be spent in a furious rage, but it found no escape. It was trapped and it wanted out. It rocked back and forth through his entire body, building up speed and power. Wither thought that it was going to kill him. He felt it tearing away at everything inside him and just when he thought he was going to explode, something in him gave. All the power was sucked out of him in an instant, gone in the blink of an eye. It happened so fast that Wither almost didn't have time to notice that it disappeared into his heart. It was as if it was a vacuum and it had sucked up the power and sealed it away. It was such a quick relief that he gasped as it left him. He looked down to see deep marks where he had dug into the solid stone of the pavilion. After marveling at what he never could have done on his own, he looked up and saw Yarrow watching him and Renna peeking at him from behind Yarrow. It took Wither a moment to realize that they were both still waiting for an explosive force to burst forth from his very being and he gave a nervous laugh as he told them, "Uh . . . nothing happened."

Renna and Yarrow both released big breaths that they had been holding in. Yarrow exclaimed, "What! Are you serious?" Wither was taken aback by this reaction. Yarrow was usually calm, but now he seemed exasperated. "You mean to tell me that nothing happened at all? Come now, Wither. Surely _something_ happened. Tell me what it felt like."

Wither told both of them what had happened. Yarrow nodded when he told them of the fury that bored into him, and did the same when he told them how he felt as though he was going to explode, but the nodding stopped there. Yarrow and Renna listened in awe as he told them about the power trying to find an exit, how it surged back and forth, gaining strength until it exploded out of him.

When he was done, Yarrow asked, "But where did it go?"

"It happened so fast, I almost missed where it went. I felt it all rush into my heart and then it was over."

Yarrow's eyes widened and he bent down and stared right into Wither's eyes. "What did you say?"

"I said it escaped into my heart."

"Are you absolutely sure? There's no doubt in your mind about that?" Yarrow seemed very displeased with this information. His eyes were wide and his breathing was becoming quite irregular.

"Yes, I'm sure. It all went to my core and just . . . disappeared."

Yarrow slowly sat back and stared straight ahead, deep in thought. Wither looked at Renna, who looked from Yarrow to Wither. She had an almost apologetic look in her eyes, knowing that this wasn't exactly what he had been hoping for. Yarrow cleared his throat and said in a far off voice, "I need to speak with the council about this. Maybe together we can explain what all of this means. We are done for today."

Renna looked up and said, "Yarrow, I never finished your assignment."

Yarrow looked down at her like he just remembered that she was there. "Oh yes, I forgot. Just practice at home and come back tomorrow. You can show me what you've learned then."

Yarrow gave Spyro and Cynder a full report on what occurred in class once he got Wither home. They exchanged worried glances and looked over at Wither who was pretending not to pay attention. Later that night they left for another meeting. Wither knew they wouldn't be back home for hours and went to bed early. As he lay curled in the pillows he thought about all that had happened since the Great Awakening. Nothing had gone as planned. He should have discovered his power, he should have made the elders proud, he should have had a normal reaction to the crystals. Ever since everyone had found out about his abnormality, many questioned whether he had any power at all, including himself. Yarrow and his parents had always believed in him, but today Wither wasn't so sure anymore. He felt like everyone was losing faith, and he was starting to get the feeling that maybe, just maybe, he didn't have an element after all. If he did, wouldn't the green crystals leave him feeling fresh and ready to go, instead of drowning him with their energy? If he had any power, wouldn't the blue crystals have made him stronger, rather than reject him and remain in crystal form? And if he had any elemental energy at all, wouldn't the purple crystals have given him the power to unleash a storm of that power, not disappear into a void that resided where his spark should be? Wither was becoming scared, scared that he didn't have any power, scared that Arragor might take advantage of his weakness, scared that everyone would forever look down on him, and scared of what was going to happen to him. He had a legacy to uphold. His parents were the most famous dragons alive; they had more power than anyone. This didn't make things any easier for him. He also thought of the book he had to start. What was it going to be, the Book of Nothing? It would certainly be a quick read.

All of these thoughts haunted Wither's mind, but there was one question that scared him more than all the others. If he didn't have any power at all and there was nothing special about him, then where did all the energy from the fury crystal go?

The next few weeks turned out to be rather disappointing. It turned out that no one had a clue what Wither's reactions to the crystals meant. The answers he had been seeking had eluded him once again. Yarrow told Wither and Renna that they could train in the library, much to the anger and frustration of the librarians. Renna honed her skills as a light dragon and Wither read through the books, trying to find anything that would help him. The days wore on as Wither went through book after useless book, looking for answers that no one seemed to have. He watched as Renna became a skilled fighter while he wasted his time with books. She learned to breathe beams of light both narrow and focused, and wide and inescapable. Yarrow taught her to concentrate the light into spheres, which she could spit a fair distance. They would then explode in a blind flash of light that burned if you stared right at it. Yarrow also told her how to create an aura of light around her that acted as a barrier to simple attacks, which their ancient teacher put to the test. Renna learned, and Wither did not. He felt that he was falling behind and being forgotten.

The competition was coming up soon. All the dragons from every class would be paired up to fight one another in the arena. After a week, all the fights would be over and everyone would be given a starting overall class rank. Wither had the sinking feeling that he would be dead last. He wouldn't even be able to fight. All other dragons had an element. Any single one of them could crush him with ease.

The day before the fights began, Yarrow walked over to Wither after class and told him that it had been arranged that he wouldn't have to fight. Wither thanked him and asked him to take him home. He went straight to his room and lay down on his bed. After a few seconds he heard footsteps outside his doorway. His parents walked into the room and sat down next to him, his mother to his left, and his father to his right. The three of them sat in silence for a minute, but Wither thought it felt more like an hour. Finally, Cynder spoke. "Well, the competition starts tomorrow."

"Mmhmm."

After another minute Spyro joined in saying, "You know . . . you should go."

"Why? I can't fight. I don't have anything to fight with."

Cynder replied, "Doesn't mean you can't watch. Lots of dragons will be watching in the stands. You should at least watch Renna's fights."

"Okay, I'll watch Renna's fights, but after that I want to just hang out in the library."

Both of them stood and Spyro said, "Good, as long as you watch your own classmate fight." He paused for a moment and both dragons stood between Wither and the doorway. Then he said, "Wither, no matter what happens, your mother and I will always love you. You know that right?"

Wither looked up at both of them and gave them a huge smile. He jumped off the pillows and gave them a hug, eyes glistening with a little moisture. "I know, but sometimes it's nice to be reminded." Afterward, they left him in peace. He snuggled down into his nest and waited for tomorrow to come.

The next day was full of excitement. Dragons everywhere were gathering in the stands of the arena. Mostly parents were coming to watch their children and see how well they did. Everyone was expecting quite a performance from all the young dragons in training. As Wither walked to the arena with his parents, he noticed quick glances from all the dragons around him, but today he wasn't bothered. This was a day of celebration and joy. After watching a few fights, Wither would go to the library to see if he could find anything useful hiding in the dusty old tomes. Most of the elders were busy with the students, gathering them up and telling them where to go. Spyro and Cynder didn't have a class, so they were able to just sit and watch with the other spectators. Wither told them that he wanted to wish Renna luck, so they showed him where they would be sitting and told him they would save a seat for him.

The arena was a giant circle a hundred yards in diameter. Surrounding the arena, were the stands, which were large enough to seat thousands of dragons. Many were already seated and waiting for the show to begin. Wither went down the stairs nearest their seats and under the stands where all of the competitors were waiting. He noticed that all of the classes were still grouped together and that very few of them were mixing. After a month of training, everyone was comfortable in their own groups. Wither didn't know where Renna was, but she was waiting with Yarrow, no doubt.

While he was searching for them he felt something singe the tip of his tail. He gave a yelp and jumped, doing a one eighty in midair and landed on the ground to see Arragor laughing at him. "What are you doing here? You don't have any powers. You don't belong here."

"I have as much right to be here as you do. I'm a dragon."

Arragor gave him a smirk and replied, "Hardly. No dragon has ever been powerless before. You're about as much of a dragon as that sparkly little uncle of yours. Now that I think about it, it must run in the family, but then again, your parents are the greatest dragons of all time. You must have missed out on that part. Hey, you still haven't answered my question. What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to wish Renna good luck on her fights."

Arragor breathed a small plume of flame that licked Wither's face. He backed up to escape it, but Arragor rushed through the smoke to block him. "I thought I told you to stay away from her. You don't deserve to talk to her. She's better than you, I'm better than you, listen to me, she's mine! Got it!"

"What are you talking about?" Wither was confused now. He just wanted to wish Renna luck, but he felt like Arragor was driving at something else.

"I'm talking about Renna, me, and not you. Got it?"

Now Wither understood what Arragor was saying. He thought about it, Arragor and Renna, then dismissed the idea. Renna was kind and gentle, whereas Arragor was vicious and cruel. Renna would never like Arragor even a little bit. "Well, if you say so, but right now I'm just going to wish her luck on her fights."

Arragor inhaled deeply giving Wither the signal to run, but Spire jumped in between the two dragons. Arragor was so surprised that he tried to gasp, but instead did a little cough due to the fact that he had already inhaled too much, and he ended up choking on his own smoke. Wither had dashed away while Arragor and his father were busy and continued his search for Yarrow and Renna. He smiled to himself as he heard Spire yelling at his son for almost torching him. Wither glanced around nervously, noticing that Arragor wasn't the only one who thought he didn't belong here. Many of the other students were watching him make his way through the crowd. They didn't look too happy to see him. Then he saw Yarrow and almost ran to him. As he had thought, Renna was sitting beside Yarrow, waiting for the competition to begin. She saw him coming and got up to meet him halfway. "Hey, I just wanted to wish you luck. I hope you get first place."

She gave him a small, sad smile and said, "Thank you, Wither. I really appreciate the support. I just can't help but feel like that's an honor that should go to you."

Wither gave a sigh and said, "If I was meant to have first place, then I would have something to fight my way there, but I don't. So promise me a few things, will you? One, if you fight Arragor, do not let him win. Two, get first place. And three, don't hold back. Give it everything you've got, but don't spend yourself early in the competition."

She nodded and gave him a wink. Then Yarrow told them it was about to begin. Wither ran back to the stands and sat down between his parents. "Cutting it a bit close aren't you, Wither?" asked Spyro.

Then Cynder leaned down and whispered, "Where did you get those little burn marks?"

Wither turned and looked at his tail. Sure enough, the grey scales were blackened a little on the end. He looked up and said, "I met Arragor under the stands, but don't worry. Spire caught him trying to turn me into a smoldering pile of ashes. He sure sounded mad."

Spyro slowly turned away from the arena and looked at Cynder. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, an unspoken conversation seeming to pass between the two before they turned back to the arena. Wither knew that Spire would be hearing from them sometime soon. Yarrow walked out to the center of the arena and everyone fell silent. "Hello everyone! Welcome to the first full class competition! Today all of your children will be pitted against each other in one on one combat. The winners will fight other winners and those who lose fights will go on to fight others who have lost their battles. The first round is important as it decides whether one goes to the lower or upper half of the class. Every round after the first becomes increasingly more tuned in to the spot in the ranking system where each student will eventually settle. In the end, the student who has won all of his or her battles will be named top of the class. Now, let the competition begin!"

The competition was exciting to watch. Every conceivable elemental type of dragon was pitted against the others to make for a variety of different battles. Hours passed, and while Wither was actually enjoying himself, no one he knew had had their turn yet. Each fight lasted between five and ten minutes. When one dragon was too weak to go on or found themselves in a compromising position at the claws of their opponent the fight was brought to an end by Yarrow, who appointed himself the referee of all the matches. There were a hundred and eighty students and Wither wasn't competing so that meant there would be eighty-nine fights in each round and one lucky soul who was randomly picked to automatically advance to the next round in the upper half.

After what felt like ages, Wither noticed that Psy was walking onto the field. He cheered for his friend and looked to the other side to see Obsidius, Arragor's earth dragon friend, walking out to meet him. Psy versus Obsidius, Wither wanted to pay extra close attention to this fight. He was rooting for Psy, but Obsidius was so big that Wither wasn't sure if he would be able to best him, Obsidius had to be at least three times the size of Psy. They stood ten yards apart in the center of the arena until Yarrow gave them the signal to begin.

Obsidius reared up on his hind legs and slammed his forepaws down on the ground. Little slivers of rock about an inch long flew out of the ground and almost pelted Psy, but he dodged out of the way and opened his mouth, allowing black, twisting shadows to slither out. They worked their way toward Obsidius, who tried to beat them away with a large green flail that surged out of his body, but the shadow breath just swirled around it and slid over Obsidius. The green club disappeared and Obsidius began flailing around, trying to hit something. The black shadows had passed over his eyes and Wither realized that he was blind. While Obsidius tried to beat the shadows away, Psy slowly slinked around him until he was behind him. Once he was in position he lunged onto his back. While there, he appeared to whisper something in his opponent's ear, then began clawing and biting anything he could get ahold of. Obsidius tried to shake him off, but he was latched on tight. Suddenly, Psy gave a loud roar and shadows burst from his body in all directions, engulfing both combatants in a dome of writhing darkness. Once the shadows receded, everyone could see that Psy was walking away from Obsidius, who was lying on the ground, knocked unconscious.

Spyro and Cynder cheered for Psy with great enthusiasm, then Spyro leaned down and told Wither, "Psy sure has quite a lot of talent. It's rare that a dragon that young ever uses a fury attack. It takes a lot of focused rage to use such an attack. I wonder what could have made him angry enough to use such a powerful attack?"

Cynder looked down as some assistants carried Obsidius off the field and said, "I hope that boy didn't get killed. Even though it was just an attack from a new student, fury attacks are almost always fatal."

Spyro waved a paw at his limp body and said, "I'm sure he'll be fine; Obsidius is big for his age. I hear he's top of the earth class too." It turned out that Spyro was right; Yarrow declared that the fight was over and checked Obsidius over before he was carted off. He announced to everyone that he was alive and would be fine after some rest. Obsidius was carried away at one end of the arena and Shadow Master Noh escorted Psy out on the other side. This was the only truly interesting match in the first round. Eventually, Sora, Tera, and Vera made their way in and out of the arena, all were victorious. Unfortunately, so were Zar and Xath, Arragor's two friends. When the last two fights were the only ones left in the first round, Wither became anxious, because Renna and Arragor still hadn't gone up yet.

Thankfully, Yarrow announced that the next two competitors would be Renna and a shadow dragon named Omba. Both dragons took their places ten yards apart and once they were ready, Yarrow gave them the signal to begin. It was the shortest fight in the entire competition.

Omba attempted to blind Renna the same as Psy did to Obsidius, but Renna opened her mouth and shot out a needle thin beam of light. It was so small it would have been impossible to see if it hadn't been so bright. The slow moving shadows that came from Omba only made it halfway to Renna before they were instantly vaporized by the super concentrated beam of light. The light didn't stop there; it kept going all the way through Omba's left shoulder, out the other side, across the rest of the arena, and straight through the fifty feet of solid stone that made up the stands. At first, Omba didn't notice; it all happened too fast to feel. He tried to lunge at Renna, but fell forward writhing in agony. He started screaming and everyone in the stands went silent. Yarrow halted the fight and ran over to check on him. At first he couldn't find anything wrong with him, but when he told Yarrow that it was his shoulder that was bothering him, Yarrow found the hole. It was no larger than the size of a period.

Yarrow declared that the fight was over and told Renna to follow him while he carried Omba out of the arena. She hadn't meant to make the beam so concentrated, but she imagined that she was in trouble for using excessive force anyway. She was crying and telling Omba she was sorry and that she hadn't meant to make the beam so concentrated. Omba asked Yarrow why it wasn't bleeding and he told him that the light was so powerful that the wound had been instantly cauterized. After Noh had Omba, Yarrow took Renna back under the stands to the waiting area. After a few long minutes Yarrow came back out to the waiting crowd. "Sorry about the wait everyone, I felt it prudent to have a talk with my student about self-control. Now, without further ado, it's time for the final battle of the first round!"

Wither didn't even bother watching; he knew that Arragor would win. Everyone always talked about how unnaturally skilled Arragor was at using his fire. He was also incredibly strong, so fire wasn't the only thing about him one had to worry about. Wither felt sorry for anyone who had to face him. He worked his way under the stands and found Renna lying down on a waiting bench. He walked over and sat down on the ground beside her. "It wasn't your fault."

She gave a start and looked up at him. "Oh, you scared me."

"Sorry. You do know no one is going to blame you right? We're all so new at this; no one has full control over their powers yet. That's why we're students, we need to learn."

She looked at him with grateful eyes and he thought he saw a whisper of a smile forming on her lips, but it disappeared when someone said, "Hey!" It was Arragor coming back from his fight in the arena. "I don't know how many times I need to tell you to-"

"To what?" Renna got up and placed herself between Arragor and Wither, hunching low and readying herself for a fight.

Arragor backed up a step and said, "Hey, Renna. I heard about your sweet victory. I won too. The guy was way too easy. Why don't you drop the loser and follow me?"

"Leave us alone Arragor. You don't belong here."

"What? You want to hang out with that guy? Why don't you come with me? We'll have lots of fun together."

Wither felt a shiver go down his spine. He didn't like the way Arragor was looking at Renna. She took a step forward and Arragor, thinking she was going to follow him, stepped forward too. Then she slashed him across the face and turned quickly to slam him in the head with her tail. This sent him reeling, but Arragor was no push over. He reared up and tried to come down on Renna. She still hadn't turned all the way back around from her spin and was vulnerable to the assault. Arragor was a rather sizable dragon and could do some serious damage. Wither watched in horror and time seemed to slow down. He didn't think, he didn't have time to feel, he just acted. Wither lunged to push Renna out of the way. It must have been the thrill of narrowly missing Arragor's body, but as he pushed Renna, the world appeared to shift around the two of them. Suddenly, he felt dizzy and fell to the ground due to the fact that he didn't land quite where he thought he would, but rather two feet or so further away, just out of Arragor's reach. He saw Arragor give them both a confused look, then Renna blasted him in the face with a wide burst of light. She grabbed Wither and told him to run.

They took off and ran away from Arragor while he was blinded by Renna's attack. They ran until they were out of breath and felt a painful burning sensation in their legs and chests. When they stopped they both fell down and started coughing and trying to catch their breath. A voice made them look up. "Having your exercise for the day?" It was Yarrow; he appeared quite amused by the sight of them. His good mood dried up in an instant once they told him why they had been running. "That boy is becoming a problem. He's far too violent. Do you know what he did to win his fight? He broke his fellow competitor's leg."

Renna ignored this and said, "I did my best to protect Wither, but Arragor almost got me. At the last second Wither pushed me out of the way. It was the most amazing thing! For a second . . . it almost felt like he pushed me further than he did."

Yarrow raised an eyebrow, causing Renna to try to explain. "I don't know how to explain it. Wither pushed me out of the way, that much I know, but it was like he pushed me with more than just his paws."

Yarrow perked up at these words and asked, "What are you saying? Wither, did you feel something as well?"

Wither gave a shrug and said, "I felt something, but I just thought it was the stress and excitement of almost being crushed. I didn't do anything special, I just pushed her out of the way to save her from Arragor. Anyone else would have done the same."

Yarrow looked at them both and said, "Well, if any of you notice anything strange or out of the ordinary, I want you to tell me about it alright?"

They both agreed and left the arena together. The first round was over and since Renna just had her fight not so long ago, her battle in the second round wouldn't be for a while. This set up gave all of the hurt dragons time to heal with red crystals that were brought to the arena. Everyone would also get a fair share of green crystals to regain what energy they had expended during the first round. Renna looked at the sky and gave a sigh, "Thank you for saving me. You were great."

Wither ducked his head low and replied, "I didn't do much. You're the one who did all the work. I didn't even think about it, I just did it. If you were to ask me, 'What was going through your head as you ran in front of where Arragor was about to bring down his entire body?' I would say nothing."

Renna repeated that last word quietly, "Nothing . . ." She stopped for a moment and Wither asked her if she was alright. She seemed to be thinking about something important, but then shook her head and said, "I'm fine."

"What is it?"

"I thought I was coming up with an idea, but I lost it."

They were in front of the library now. Wither had been the one leading. "I guess this is my stop."

"What are you going to do here?"

"See if I can find anything that will tell me what I am, or at least something that will help me figure it out."

Renna put her paw on his shoulder and said, "Wither, I really hope you find what you can do, and soon too."

He looked up at her and said, "Me too." Then he walked up the steps and into the library.


	7. Chapter 6 Finals

Chapter 6- Finals

As the week drew on, more and more battles took place in the arena. The shouts of excitement and encouragement from the parents in the stands could be heard all across Warfang, but in the library the noise went unnoticed. The only sounds that could be heard in the library were the soft crackling of turning pages and sighs of disappointment. Wither had been hard at work trying to find a book that could somehow help him. He had been through books about the crystals, books about the elders, books on dragon anatomy, and dragon lore. He had flipped through books on legends and myths, love, aliments and cures, cook books, books on the purple dragon, and all of the elemental books. He had even been desperate enough to briefly look at books on architecture, zoology, botany, and virology. Even the most unrelated subjects were quickly scanned in case of the off chance that a helpful piece of information might be over looked. He had searched through books on nearly every conceivable topic, but none of them had an answer for him so far, and he was starting to give up. There were thousands upon thousands of books in the library, but Wither doubted that any of them held the knowledge he sought. He was flipping through a rather interesting book about the exceedingly rare time dragons when his parents walked in. "Why don't you give that book a break and come to the arena? Finals are today you know," said Spyro to his crestfallen son.

"Why should I? I have no part in it. My place is here with the books. I need to find out what my element is, not sit around and watch other people show theirs off."

Cynder leaned in very close to Wither and whispered to him that Renna and all her friends had made it to the top ten.

"What! They did? Really? That's amazing!"

"So you want to go?" asked Spyro.

Wither looked down at the books and back up at his father. "Why not? I haven't learned a thing anyway, at least not what I'm after. I _do_ feel like I know everything about nothing now." Spyro and Cynder shook their heads and laughed at this statement. They knew the feeling as they thought back to long nights of studying that the other elders still occasionally put them through.

Today was the last day of the competition. Everyone's rank had been narrowed down to a short range of possibilities in the one hundred and eighty places to be taken. The last round would decide what everyone turned out to be in the end of it all. The first round determined whether someone was in the upper or lower half of the class, depending on whether they won or lost. The next round decided what quarter they were in, and the next one showed what eighth, and so on, until the last round was yet to be fought and each student knew they would end up in one of two places. This was it, everyone knew what two ranks they could be now, and the finals would determine their final placing. The battles would be fierce and nobody was going to give up without the fight of their life. Wither watched with his parents as battle after battle took place. They were longer than they were at the beginning of the competition. As the first half of the finals came to a close, Wither noted that Obsidius ranked at the top of the bottom half of the class. This meant that he had won all of his fights, with the unfortunate exception of his very first bout with Psy. If it weren't for Psy's fury attack, he would have placed much higher, but it didn't matter much. A strong dragon like Obsidius would work his way up to where he really belonged, and Wither couldn't help but think that was somewhere near the top.

Wither continued to watch the competition as the last round wore on. He kept counting down how many battles were left until his friends began to fight. When the first battle of the top ten ranking fights began, Wither became even more anxious to watch his friends fight. He hoped they wouldn't have to fight each other, but it seemed likely that they might. When Yarrow called for the competitors for ranks nine and ten to step forward Wither leaned forward in anticipation of who they might be.

An electric dragoness named Elleca came out of one entrance and her opponent, an earth dragon named Roxy, came out the other side. He seemed rather strong, but Elleca probably wouldn't be any push over either, considering she had gotten this far. When Yarrow told them to begin Elleca wasted no time in letting loose a bolt of electricity that went straight for Roxy's head. However, Roxy had more than just a muscular build; he had a stellar reaction time, and advanced skills. As the bolt was about to strike him between the eyes a spur of rock burst out of the ground to shield him from the lightning. The blast sent slivers of rock flying in all directions, but Roxy escaped the attack unscathed. He lunged through the dust cloud, which concealed him long enough to prepare for a surprise attack. However, as he flew toward Elleca she did something that caught him off guard. Instead of trying to duck off to the side or back pedal like he expected, she ran right towards him with impeccable speed and agility, then she ducked and slid under him. She did a one eighty under him and when Roxy landed, she struck him in the back with a bolt before he could turn around.

This paralyzed him long enough for her to rush in and tackle him. However, this was a bad move due to the fact that she was smaller than Roxy and while she was able to knock him down, once she was close enough, Roxy grabbed her and took her with him. They rolled a few feet and Roxy came out on top, but Elleca was the fastest dragon Wither had ever seen, both physically and mentally. She stretched her neck up and licked Roxy in the face. Obviously, he wasn't expecting that kind of move in the middle of a fight, because he froze and just stared at her. The few seconds of delay was all she needed to push him off of her using all fours, do a three sixty, whipping him in the face with her tail, and facing him to end the fight with a bolt between the eyes.

Wither was stunned by the display. He had never seen such an intense fight in all his life. It was beautiful the way they both reacted to each other, almost like a dance. Roxy had some talent and was able to pull off one or two advanced moves, but in the end he was no match for Elleca's grace, speed, and raw power, not to mention her quick wit, which gave her a bonus advantage. As Elleca walked out of the arena, she looked up at Wither and gave him a wink. He gave a nervous laugh and waved at her. She gave him a dazzling smile and bounced away under the stands. Wither caught his father looking at him out of the corner of his eye and exclaimed, "What!"

Spyro gave him a sly grin and shook his head slightly as he turned back to watch the next fight, which was between Sora, Wither's new friend the wind dragon, and Tera, the fear dragon in the group. Wither was afraid that some of his friends would have to fight each other, but that was bound to happen seeing as all five of them had made it to the top ten. They didn't seem to mind much seeing as they were both smiling at each other. Wither thought he heard Tera say, "May the best fighter win."

When the fight began, Tera dashed to the right and towards Sora who stood her ground and waited to see what her opponent tried to do. Tera ran in a circle around Sora inching closer and closer as she did so, then she lunged for Sora who inhaled deeply and blew a gale force wind her way. The gust of wind found its way under Tera's wings and pushed them back. They acted like windbreakers as they caught the air and pulled her backwards. While Tera tried to regain her balance in midair, Sora jumped up and pulled her down. Tera hit the ground hard and Sora began to beat her face with her wings, which were powerful, considering she was a wind dragon. Tera tried to get Sora off of her, but when she lifted her head, Sora blew into her face, which snapped her neck back and made her hit her head on the stone.

Tera was losing strength quickly and couldn't shake Sora off, so she let out an ear piercing screech that was laced with her power, causing red ripples to play around Sora's head. Caught by the blast of sound at point blank range, Sora's whole body clenched tightly and fell over to one side of Tera who got up and looked at Sora. She then told Yarrow that she thought the fight was over. Sora was paralyzed by the shriek, which was a common yet temporary effect of the fear element.

Tera headed back under the stands and waved at Wither and his parents as she walked by. Wind Master Valorie walked to the center of the arena where Sora lay. She leaned over and told Sora that she did an excellent job, then picked her up and carried her away.

"They were both pretty good, don't you think Cynder?" asked Spyro.

"Yes, but they both have some work to do. Tera needs to train harder and Sora needs to learn how to dodge close range attacks. I could see that one coming from up here. If Sora had of detected it, she probably would have won."

"I agree. She got the best of Tera then got too comfortable. She let her guard down and set herself up for a direct hit from a powerful elemental attack."

Wither was listening to his parent's conversation when he heard a voice behind him. "Enjoying the show?"

All three of them turned to see Psy sitting in the seat behind Wither. "Hey!" exclaimed Wither. "How's it going? Aren't you supposed to be beneath the stands? You have a battle coming up soon don't you?"

"Yeah, it's the one after the next one. Anyway, before I go I wanted to ask you what you thought of my battle with Obsidius."

"What you did was amazing! I had never seen a fury attack before. It's really rare for someone our age to do that you know."

"What was it you said to Obsidius before you released your fury on him?" Cynder wanted to know.

Wither remembered Psy leaning over to whisper something to Obsidius before he finished him off. "Yeah, it looked like you said something to him."

"I would like to know what made you angry enough to use a fury attack on him," added Spyro.

Psy scratched the back of his head, he seemed a little embarrassed. "Oh, you noticed that? Well, I said . . . 'This is for Wither.'"

They just stared at him for a few seconds, then Spyro leaned down and asked, "What?"

"Arragor, Zar, Xath, and Obsidius are nothing but a gang of bullies. They're mean to everyone. They think they can do whatever they want because they're so strong. Then I heard about the trouble they've been causing Wither and I just got so angry. When I figured out that I was to fight Obsidius I vowed I would make him pay. Everyone in the group has made a pact. Renna, Tera, Vera, Sora, and I have all agreed that if we fight any of them we'll make them pay, or die trying. That's what I came up here to talk to you about. The next fight is between Vera and Xath. After that it's me and Zar, and the fight for rank number one and two is between Renna and Arragor."

"What? You've got to be kidding me! Renna has to fight Arragor? But he's so strong."

"Don't worry, Wither. Renna can take care of him. She _is_ a light dragon after all. Just you wait and see; we'll all win our fights for us and for you."

Wither couldn't believe his friends had made such a promise. They really did care about him. He had never felt as loved in his life as he did right now. "Well, I need to go now. The next fight is getting ready to start and I'm on after that, so bye."

Wither watched him go and turned back to face his parents. Cynder told him, "You're very lucky to have such loyal friends. Trust me, I know all about the importance of friends," she said as she looked at Spyro with a loving smile. "I don't know how terrible my life would be if it weren't for your father."

"She's right, Wither. Be good to your friends and they will be good to you. Without friends there is an empty space in your heart that nothing can fill. Remember that."

"I will dad. Thanks. You too mom."

Cynder told them the next battle was starting and they all turned to face the arena. Yarrow was shouting that the next fight would be Vera versus Xath. As Xath walked out into the arena he looked all around him and waved arrogantly to the crowd with a big smile on his face. Vera just stared straight forward at her opponent as she took her place at the starting position. Xath made his way to his starting position and looked at Vera. "So, you ready to fail?"

She just stared at him with vicious eyes that screamed with a searing anger and hatred. If looks could kill, poor Xath would already be dead, but Vera thought that he would just have to wait a few more seconds for that.

Yarrow told them to begin and Xath shot toward Vera with lightning speed. Vera spit poison at him, but he dodged out of the way and ran past Vera, letting loose a bolt that hit her in the side. She jumped at the jolt it gave her and turned to face the speedster, but as she did so he ran past her again and delivered another bolt to her side. This time she whirled around to face him before he could pass her again, yet he did so anyway and hit her with a third bolt, this time in the front left leg. He was so fast! How was it possible? Every time she turned to face him he ran past her and struck her with another bolt. This continued for two minutes. Time and time again, Xath would make a pass and get a hit on Vera with a small bolt. They didn't do much damage, but their combined power was starting to compound and have an effect on her. It didn't seem possible that Xath could be so fast and not even tire out after so many passes.

When it felt like he was just going to keep going until he won, he stopped and stood in place. Vera turned to face him, preparing herself for yet another bolt, and was surprised to see Xath just standing there grinning at her. It was like he had an overabundance of energy. He wasn't just standing, he was moving around in place. He kept stepped back and forth, side to side, and jerking around. It looked like he had too much energy to contain, she couldn't believe his strength. Then someone shouted from the stands, "He's a berserker!"

_Of course_, she thought as she watched him jerk around crazily. He showed all the signs of a berserker; she didn't know why she hadn't thought of it sooner. Berserkers, when in a fight, give their all. They don't hold anything back, they don't try to hold out for an extended period of time, and their battle induced rage grants them the ability to tap into the massive quantities of reserve energy that all creatures could summon in times of great need. It was like the strength of a mother that could lift a tree off of her child, only Xath constantly used that strength. It wasn't something that just anyone could do. Berserkers were known for going insane with rage when they fight and trying to bring down their opponent with relentless brutality. Then she had another thought. If he was a berserker, then the only reason why he would stop his assault would be to charge up for a devastating fury attack. He was wide open for an attack right now; the only problem was that all the electricity running through her body held her locked in place. She was paralyzed!

She tried to move with all her might, but it was no use. Xath's seemingly teasing bolts of electricity were actually the first half of a two part killer strategy. She wondered if a novice fighter like Xath could pull off a fury attack and looked at him again. There were sparks dancing around his body and as she looked closer she saw that they were growing in intensity. The wild, jerky dance Xath was doing was building up a charge that he would soon use to finish her off if she didn't move.

Wither watched in nervous anticipation from the stands, as did everyone else. They were all silent as they watched to see what would happen. Wither looked at his mom and asked, "Why won't she move?"

Cynder looked worried and replied, "She can't. She's been paralyzed by all those bolts. That Xath! He's going to win, but what I don't understand is why Yarrow won't end the fight. In my opinion, Vera has already lost."

Wither looked back and forth between Vera and Xath. He willed her to move with all his might, but she just stood there waiting for the end. Wither looked up at Yarrow and saw that for some strange reason he was looking up at Wither. He silently pleaded Yarrow to end the fight. It was clear that Vera couldn't move. Wither became upset and tears began to well up in his eyes.

"Don't worry, Wither. Everything will turn out alright, I promise." Wither looked up at his father who was smiling down at him. "Just calm down. Nothing is going to happen, okay?"

Wither believed his dad and calmed down as he was told and turned back to watch the fight. Vera was still paralyzed and Xath was still doing his strange dance. Lightning was now playing about his body and licking the air in long, arching strokes that buzzed with energy.

Cynder gave a huff in frustration and said, "If the electricity inside Vera's body would just dissipate, I'm sure she would be able to move again."

Wither took in a deep breath and let it out nice and slow to stay calm. He wished the electricity inside Vera's body would just disappear, then she could defeat Xath, who was almost done charging up. Then the most miraculous thing happened. Vera fell down. At first Wither thought this was very clumsy of her, then, as people in the stands began to shout, he realized that she wasn't paralyzed anymore. His mother and father shouted at Vera and she got up and looked all around. She appeared confused for a moment, but then she remembered her situation and turned around and spit poison right in Xath's eyes.

He screamed and pitched backward. Blinded by the venom that was burning his eyes, he attempted to hit Vera with what energy he had stored up, but the beam missed and flew into the stands. It would have hit Wither if Spyro hadn't blocked it with his own burst of lightning. Lightning Master Volteer entered the arena and held Xath down while Yarrow used his powers to heal his eyes, which were too damaged for red crystals to have an effect.

Vera ran up into the stands to talk to Wither. "I don't believe it! One minute I was paralyzed and the next, I could move again! It was like the current in me just suddenly vanished!"

"You mean it just disappeared?"

"Yeah, it was the strangest thing. I was really unprepared for it, but I'm grateful because I would have been toast if that hadn't happened. I have to go now, bye!" Vera ran back under the stands while Volteer escorted Xath off the field. Wither saw that Yarrow was watching him again. He imagined it was just because his old friend was sad that he couldn't be in the competition.

After a few minutes Yarrow announced that the next fight was about to begin. Zar, the ice dragon in Arragor's group, came out to stand in his place. He had a hard look about him. Quite unlike Xath, he seemed very serious about this battle. Psy came out and walked to his spot in the arena. As he did so he looked up at Wither and gave him a wink. He stood in his place and glared at Zar. "You're going down."

"Afraid not. I'm putting you on ice."

"Not if I drag you into the shadows first."

Yarrow spread his wings and shouted, "Ready, set, go!"

Psy spread his wings and shadows began to ripple outward from his body. Zar spread his wings too and the ground under his feet iced over and spread outward from his body. The shadow tendrils made their way toward Zar, and the veins of ice traveled to Psy. The shadows got to Zar first and wrapped around his head and covered his eyes so he couldn't see. It must have worked because the thin sheet of ice that was forming on the ground passed Psy, but nothing happened. Psy laughed and said, "So you think a small layer of ice on the ground is going to win it for you? You can't even see! What have you got to show for your move?"

Zar only smiled coolly and said, "You're not very observant are you?"

Psy looked down and saw that the ice was thicker around his feet and had slowly worked its way up his legs. He tried to jerk free, but his feet were frozen to the ground. He couldn't believe he didn't notice this. "Okay, so you got me, but you still can't see me."

"I don't have to see you, I just have to find you and once I do there's not a whole lot you can do. By the way, you're not that hard to find. Neither of us moved so that means you're still right in front of me."

Psy started jerking as hard as he could with his legs, but the ice was getting thicker around them. Zar began to slowly walk a circle around him. He was purposefully drawing it out because he still couldn't see with the shadow tendrils following him. He walked a circle around Psy because he figured that attacking from the rear was safer than a frontal assault. Meanwhile, Psy tried to bash the ice around his feet with his horns, which helped a little. He was able to weaken the ice around his front feet enough to break free, but his back legs were still encased in ice. Since Psy couldn't get his horns in position to beat the ice there he had to use his front claws to dash at the ice. This was slower than using horns, but it still worked.

Zar could hear the chipping and shattering ice. This made him uneasy because he still couldn't see and so he quickened his pace. He was almost behind Psy when he heard the ice shatter again. This time Psy had freed his right rear leg. He turned to see that Zar was only a few seconds away from reaching him. Psy slashed a bit at the ice on his last foot with all his might, then he pushed up against the ice with his other three legs, trying to pull the foot free. The strain on the ice cracked it slowly. As the structure around his imprisoned foot weakened, Zar came closer. After what seemed like an agonizingly long wait, the ice broke and Psy whirled around to meet Zar face to face.

The only problem was that Zar had already inhaled and was now breathing a freezing mist onto Psy's face. Psy jerked back and tried to get away, but it was too late. Ice had formed over his mouth, preventing him from using any breath attacks, which are a vital part of a dragon's arsenal. Psy ran away from Zar, leaving him to wander around in his own personal darkness while Psy tried to bash the ice off of his face. However, the shadows were beginning to dissolve, which would mean Zar could see again. If this happened before Psy could get the ice off his face he would be in trouble.

Psy began to smash his face into the ground. It hurt, but it was chipping the ice off quicker than any other technique would have. Zar blinked a few times and looked Psy's way. The shadows were beginning to lose their effect on him and he could now see a hazy version of the world. He was trying to locate Psy before he bashed the ice off his face. Psy caught a crack in the ice with a claw and tore half of it away just as the last of the shadows disappeared. "I see you," Zar said in a singsong voice. He skated across the ice toward Psy who inhaled and blew the last of the ice off with a surge of shadow. The shadow struck Zar in the side and sent him reeling on the ice. He slipped and fell, spinning and skidding to a halt right in front of Psy. He leaned up to breath ice on Psy's face again, but Psy grabbed his head and thrust it down and slammed his snout into the ground. Zar couldn't stop in time; he exhaled the icy breath in a cry of pain with his face against the ground, freezing his upper and lower jaws to the ground.

After this, Psy pounded on the helpless dragon relentlessly until Yarrow told him to stop. The fight was over, Psy was the victor and Zar had to be thawed away from the ground. As Psy walked away Wither ran down to meet him. "That was amazing! You're really good. I hope I never have to fight you. Congratulations! You made third place out of a hundred and eighty. You make an excellent fighter. I'm glad I have you for a friend."

Psy grinned and looked down, "It was an even fight. He almost had me several times. I wasn't very careful and I let him get the best of me in the beginning. I guess I am kind of a good fighter, but we all still have much to learn. Like when and when not to exhale! Right Zar? Ha! I have to go. See you later, Wither."

Psy left to go back under the stands and Wither went back to his seat in the stands. For the first time he realized that people in the stands were staring at him. When he looked at someone he was able to just catch them looking away. This made him feel uncomfortable, so he quickened his pace and sat back down in his seat next to his parents. "The final battle is up next, Wither," said Cynder as he returned.

"Renna versus Arragor, I hope Yarrow has taught her plenty of tricks. She'll need as many as she can use to defeat Arragor. He's got some natural talent; he's so strong for such a young dragon," added Spyro.

Wither watched as fire dragons got rid of the ice covering the arena and said, "Renna's a light dragon. She can take care of him. He won't last five minutes in there with her as his opponent. Just you wait and see. Arragor will lose. He may be strong, but he's nothing compared to Renna." Wither took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm his nerves. He cleared his mind and stared at the arena. The ice was gone and the fire dragons were leaving the field. Yarrow took his place at the referee's spot and everyone went silent.

"This is it! The moment we've all been waiting for! This is the final battle that will decide who reaches the top of the class for the beginning of the year. The two competitors are Renna and Arragor. Both of them have proven themselves worthy of the top two places in the class and neither have lost a battle so far. However, this final battle will have a victor and a loser. The winner shall be ranked number one in the class for the start of the year, but the fight does not end here. Once at the top, the winner must fight to defend their place at the top, for if someone beneath them wishes to challenge them, they must win every fight to defend their title. Students can only challenge those ranked one place above them. This keeps everything balanced and fair. Well, I believe I've talked enough. I won't keep you waiting any longer. Renna and Arragor, please enter the arena!"

Everyone in the stands cheered as both dragons walked to their starting places. Renna looked up to Wither and mouthed the words, 'Wish me luck,' to him. He nodded and looked at Arragor who had followed Renna's gaze up to him. He stared at Wither as if he were a bug that he wanted to squish, but then he turned his attention back toward Renna and gave her a smile that made Wither hate him with every fiber of his being. Renna raised her head high and said, "May the best dragon win."

He leaned forward and said, "I intend to."

Yarrow raised his wings up in the air and shouted, "Ready, set, go!"

Wither made sure to take in another deep breath to calm himself down. He emptied his mind again so that he wouldn't worry about anything that happened.

Renna fired a beam of blinding light at Arragor, which was so bright it made everyone in the stands look away. Arragor put his head down and spread his wings out in front of him to block out the light. He charged forward and slammed into her with his powerful body. It wasn't a fair physical match; Renna was about half Arragor's size, which put her at a disadvantage when he came up close to get physical. As powerful as Arragor was at fire, he still couldn't overpower a light dragon, so he needed his muscular form to help him out.

Renna fell, did a roll, and got back on her feet. She narrowed her beam to do more damage and left scorch marks on Arragor's chest. This made him yelp and incited anger in him. The look on his face was ferocious as he charged toward her again. She blasted another narrow beam of light, but not fast enough to stop him. He slammed into her again and landed on top of her. Once in this position he stood on her to prevent her from getting up and bent down to whisper something in her ear. Wither could tell by the look on her face that it wasn't at all pleasant or appropriate. Then he got off of her, grabbed her by the arm, and flipped her over. He got a hold of her neck and turned her head so that she couldn't use her light on him. Then he placed his other paw on her chest and held her down. He said something to her and while Wither couldn't exactly hear it, it saw Arragor's lips, "Man, got to love this view." Wither was infuriated; he stood up in his seat, gaining his parents attention.

Cynder leaned down and said, "It's okay, Wither. It's just a competition."

"No, it's not that. I can see what he's saying to her. Someone needs to stop the fight. He's harassing her."

Spyro leaned down too. "I'm sorry, Wither. There's nothing we can do right now, but after the fight we can talk to Yarrow if you want. Just calm down. Everything will be alright."

Wither didn't like it. He knew what Arragor was doing. This wasn't a fight for him, but an opportunity to have some fun at Renna's expense. However, Wither did as his father told him. He emptied his mind yet again in an attempt to calm down. The only thought going through his mind was how unfair it was that Arragor was so strong. If only the fight could be a little more balanced, then Renna would be able to win, but for that to happen Arragor would have to be weakened somehow. He looked back up to see Arragor stagger. The fire dragon lost his balance and fell sideways. He got back up, but his legs wobbled beneath him and his knees buckled, which made him fall again. By now Renna was up, but she didn't do anything, she just stood there and stared at him. He made one last effort to stand, but collapsed and hit the ground unconscious.

Everyone in the stands stared in silent awe. Then Yarrow ran across the arena and put a paw on Arragor. "Oh no. He's so cold. Quick! Heat! This boy needs heat! His body temperature is dangerously low!" Yarrow began to use his life powers to pour energy into Arragor. Spire rushed out to his son to aid him in any way possible.

After a few moments of energy transfer, Arragor woke up, but he was too weak to stand on his own. "What . . . what happened?"

Yarrow said, "You passed out. My word, in all my life I've never seen such a thing. You were nearly out of gas boy."

Spire helped his son up and carried him away. Renna started to walk away too, but before she could get under the stands Yarrow shouted, "And just where do you think you're going young lady?"

She turned around and asked, "Me? What? I didn't do anything to him I swear. One minute he had me pinned and the next he was falling down. I-"

Yarrow cut her off and said, "No! It's nothing like that. You won! You're ranked number one in the class! Come! Stand in the center of the arena so that all may honor you!"

"But Arragor was the better fighter."

"That may be so, but the fact is you still won the fight. You are number one in the class and no one can deny it."

Renna followed Yarrow to the center of the arena and all became silent again. Yarrow told Renna that she should give a speech. Renna stepped forward, looking at everyone in the stands. Everyone was looking at her, which was a little nerve racking, but then she saw Wither and began her speech. "I can't say I know why I won. Something strange befell Arragor during our fight, but since he could not continue, I guess that makes me the winner. I'd like to thank my mom and dad for giving me so much support this week. I want to thank you, Yarrow, for teaching me how to use my power in different ways, and I must thank you for all the new things that you will teach me in the future. I'd like to thank my friends Sora, Tera, Vera, and Psy for being with me throughout the competition. Thanks guys! We all kept our promise! And finally, I would like to thank my good friend Wither for giving me a better reason to win than just making it to the top. You're the best, Wither. You may not realize how much you've done, and maybe no one else does either, but you have helped me in ways you can't imagine. Thank you."

She stepped back and looked up at Yarrow. He was beaming down at her with pride and said, "Thank you, Renna. That was a wonderful speech."

Everyone got up and left the arena. It was nearing noon now and everyone was ready to eat and celebrate the end of the competition. Renna's parents came and talked to Yarrow for a while, then they left with their daughter to go home and eat. Spyro wanted them to go talk to Yarrow, so the family of three made their way down into the arena to speak with the ancient dragon. Spyro approached him and said, "So ends the great competition."

Yarrow turned to them and said, "Yes! It was quite an exciting event, especially today. Some rather interesting things happened in the last few fights."

Cynder nodded in agreement and replied, "Yeah, I know. I wonder what could have happened to Arragor?"

"Yes, and did you notice how sudden Vera's recovery to her paralysis was? Both events seemed rather . . . unnatural to me." He appeared to be deep in thought for a moment, but shook himself out of it and turned back to face Wither and said, "So Wither, what did you think of the competition?"

"I thought it was great! I knew Renna would win, but I didn't think it was going to end like that."

"It's very strange what happened to Arragor. I'm still trying to make sense of it. I've been in this world for a very long time, and I have never seen anything like Arragor's case. He was so cold when I got to him, and very weak. It was almost as if the energy had been sucked right out of him, vanished without a trace. We'll have to keep an eye out to see that it doesn't happen again."

"It wouldn't bother me if it did."

"Now Wither, I know what he has done, but that's no way to talk. Every living being has a right to be here. Well, I must go. It's time for me to be getting something to eat."

"Yes, it's time for lunch. Goodbye, Yarrow," said Cynder. Wither and his parents made their way home. On the way, Cynder and Spyro talked about the competition and what they were having for lunch. This left Wither alone with his own thoughts. All the way home he kept thinking about Renna's victory and what happened to Arragor.


	8. Chapter 7 Wither's Realization

Chapter 7- Wither's Realization

The next few weeks after the competition were dull to Wither in ways that he could never imagine. He buried himself in his studies at the library while Yarrow taught Renna how to use more powerful techniques. He skimmed through countless books trying to find something of use. Every now and then Yarrow would tell Wither to join him and Renna for a day. On one such day Yarrow decided to keep their lesson in his garden and told Renna that he would work with Wither for the day and that she would sit back and observe. Yarrow presented Wither with another fury crystal and said, "I want you to try these again. As you can see, I have many fury crystals here. I've been doing some research in the library like you. It turns out that all energy must go somewhere and since there is an immense amount of energy locked inside fury crystals, that means that you are capable of withholding a tremendous quantity of energy without cracking under pressure. That day when I had you try all the crystals, you absorbed the energy and yet you say it disappeared into your core where your elemental spark should be. This was a bit more important than I originally thought. I must apologize for not giving it much thought sooner. So here, take it."

Wither took the fury crystal and absorbed its ferocious power. He felt the raging, searing fury overwhelm him once again. It pulsed within him, dancing about, slamming around inside him, demanding a way out. It reached the bursting point when it felt like the energy would explode out of him, and then it rushed into his core and disappeared. Wither looked up at the expectant teacher and said, "Well, it happened again."

Despite the seemingly disappointing results, Yarrow appeared to be quite pleased. He brought out a large pile of fury crystals and told Wither to absorb the whole lot of them. One by one, Wither absorbed each crystal until they were all gone. Each time he consumed a crystal, it would fill him up with rage and power, which would then amplify until it vanished. When the whole pile was gone, Yarrow sat there gaping at his mysterious student with what could only be described as shock. "I . . . I don't understand how you can hold all of that in and not go insane. You've absorbed enough for any dragon to take out everything within a mile radius of your person, and yet you seem to hold it all in with no effort whatsoever. Not even your parents could do that . . . Well, I believe we've made progress today!"

Wither just shrugged his shoulders and said, "If you say so."

"Trust me young dragon, I will find you out yet. I believe we are witnessing your power by having you hold all this energy in. The question is, what _is_ your power. I'm sure we'll figure it out in time."

After class, Wither got together with Renna and the rest of his friends. They walked the streets of Warfang, talking to each other about their day. Sora had learned how to catch up enemies in a whirlwind, Tera was taught how to perform an attack called Phantom Fright, Vera found out how to do a Scorpion Strike, and Psy said he learned how to breathe denser shadows. Renna told everyone that Yarrow had devoted the day to Wither. When they asked him what he did, he told them that he learned that he was a bottomless pit. Renna explained to everyone what happened and they all seemed intrigued by the tale.

"Wow!" exclaimed Sora, which was uncharacteristic for her, seeing as she was usually quite reserved. "You get to use fury crystals? You're so lucky. Our teachers say the fury lessons aren't for a month."

Tera joined in with a hint of curiosity in her voice. "But nothing happened? That's so weird. Fury crystals make dragons use their fury powers. If you didn't do anything then does that mean-"

Renna cut her off with a glare while Tera's twin sister, Vera, covered her mouth. Psy cut in to fix her mistake. "So you consumed an entire pile of fury crystals? You're the only dragon who can say that. All that energy has to go somewhere. You must be one tough dragon to be able to hold all that in."

"Yeah, I guess so, but why me? Why do I have to be the one dragon in the world who doesn't know what he can do? If I can even do anything, that is. Who knows? Maybe I don't have any power."

"Now that's not true, Wither!" shouted Renna. He jumped at her unexpected anger. It made him feel like crawling under a rock. He didn't like it when Renna was angry, but she calmed down when she saw that she scared him and put a paw on his shoulder. "You need to stop being so negative. Yarrow believes in you, I believe in you, all of us here believe in you. We're your friends and we'll help you with anything we can, all you have to do is ask. We'll protect you too, we'll keep you safe until you find your power, then we can all work together and no one can defeat us!"

"That's right," said Sora. "The power of friendship and teamwork can overcome anything, including that bully, Arragor, and his cronies."

Wither smiled and said, "I don't know. I think they had a hard enough time taking you all on alone."

Renna laughed and replied, "I had a lucky break, but everyone else did superbly."

Psy waved a paw at her and said, "Oh Renna, you really are too modest. Give yourself some credit. You made it to the final battle on your own. That shows what kind of fighter you are. Trust me, you truly are the best."

"Thank you, Psy."

They all rounded a corner and entered a popular area where the young dragons liked to congregate. There were a few playing a game of tag, there were some practicing and showing off their elements, and there were many groups like theirs just sitting around and talking. Unfortunately, Arragor and his gang were in the courtyard too and when they saw the new arrivals they got up and walked over to the group. Arragor didn't look too happy as he led his entourage to face them. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Wither and the dork squad."

Psy bared his fangs and growled, "Watch your mouth, Arragor. If I remember right, everyone over here beat everyone over there."

"We're better than you and we can prove it!" Everyone in the courtyard was watching now. "Besides, I don't remember that thing you hang out with even being in the competition."

Wither felt the sting of Arragor's insult, but rather than becoming angry, he rolled with it. He had his friends with him and he felt a surge of confidence rush through him. "Who are you calling a thing? I could defeat you without even trying!"

His friends all looked at him, startled by this statement. Everyone else was looking at Arragor and waiting to see what he would say next. "Ha! You think you can defeat me? Well then, let's see what you've got!"

Wither marched forward with surprising confidence, then his pace slowed. He gasped and clutched his chest, then fell on the ground. Everyone in the courtyard burst out laughing with the exception of Arragor who had smoke billowing out of his flared nostrils.

"You think it's funny? You think it's funny!" He charged forward to attack Wither, but was quickly blocked by a wall of his friends. All five of them stared him down. Zar, Xath, and Obsidius came up next to Arragor.

"Five against four," said Psy. "What do you think? You up for it?"

Arragor looked at Renna and gave her a hideous smile, saying, "You know what? I think I am." He charged forward with Obsidius and had Zar and Xath stay behind. They were about to collide with the group protecting Wither in an attempt to break through, but then a yellow dragon suddenly fell out of the sky and landed on Arragor. She did a backflip as he buckled under the force of her impact and did a twisting maneuver in midair to land behind him facing Obsidius and proceeded to give him what looked like a thousand volts. She turned around and gave Wither a big grin and a wink. It was then that he realized that they had just been saved by Elleca, that girl who placed ninth in the competition.

Arragor and Obsidius picked themselves up off the ground. Obsidius was still twitching a little from the powerful jolt he had endured, but Arragor looked furious. "You'll pay for that."

Elleca cocked her head and said, "Well, it's six against four now. You'll have a hard time making me pay for anything."

"Make that seven."

Everyone turned to see an earth dragon making his way toward the fight. He took a place beside Elleca and looked back at Wither, "Don't worry, we'll protect you."

It was then then that he remembered that the dragon's name was Roxy, the one who had fought against Elleca and lost. He seemed a little angry and turned toward Elleca. "Hey! I was talking to you and you just jumped out the window without any warning! Are you crazy! What if you hadn't landed on something soft! We were three stories up!"

Arragor couldn't take their senseless bickering anymore and shouted, "Hello! Have you forgotten something!"

Elleca turned around and said, "Oh, why don't you just go light yourself on fire or something. You're out numbered two to one anyway. Just admit defeat and go away."

She turned away from the furious, sputtering Arragor and said to Roxy, "I looked out the window and saw trouble and you were boring me, so I took aim and took to the skies! I landed right on target."

"I was boring you? Thanks, you're so kind."

"Well, it's just that you're so . . . neeyah."

"What! What's that supposed to mean!"

"Hold on a sec." Elleca ducked as a bolt stabbed the air where her head had been less than a second ago. Everyone saw a yellow blur tackle Xath and pin him to the ground. Elleca was on his back holding his face against the ground.

Psy raised an eyebrow and said, "Wow, she has to be the fastest dragon alive."

"I didn't even see her move," said Sora.

"She ran right past Arragor and Obsidius and they didn't even notice!" exclaimed Vera.

"How did she even know Xath was going to do that?" wondered Tera.

Elleca was shouting at Xath and making quite a scene, not that everyone hadn't been paying attention to everything since all the drama started. Everything just kept getting better and better. "So you thought you'd take a shot at a lady while she wasn't looking, huh!"

Roxy cupped a paw around his mouth and shouted, "You're hardly a lady, Elleca!"

"Shut up or you're next, Roxy!"

Roxy turned toward Wither and his friends and shook his head, saying, "Why do I even talk to her?" As he said this, Obsidius was sneaking up behind him.

Psy tried to warn him and yelled, "Watch out!"

Obsidius cracked Roxy on the head and slammed him with his tail. Roxy flew through the air and landed a few feet away. Psy jumped in front of him and blew shadows in his face. He jumped up on top of Obsidius and started clawing at him, but Obsidius was a rather large dragon so Psy shouted, "Tera, Vera, a little help here!" The twins jumped into the fray to help Psy take down Obsidius.

Roxy picked himself up off the ground and looked toward the fight. Then he jumped and shouted, "Elleca, look out!

Elleca stopped stomping on Xath's head and turned into a blur again. She just barely dodged being turned into an icicle by Zar.

Renna turned to Wither and said, "Hold on. We need to help them." Sora and Renna joined the fight by taking on Zar, while Roxy ran to help Elleca with Xath.

By now a full blown fight had broken out. Everyone stood and watched in awe, including Wither. He felt kind of bad about the fact that he had started the whole thing, but at least his side was winning. However, something didn't seem right to Wither. He watched his friends beating up Obsidius, Xath, and Zar and then realized that Arragor was missing. He whirled around and looked behind him. Luckily, he wasn't there. He looked all around, but he couldn't see him anywhere. All he could see were all the other children watching the fight. Everyone in the courtyard was just standing around enjoying the show. Some were looking at Wither and whispering to each other, which made him rather uncomfortable. Then he noticed a group that was pointing at Wither with wide eyes. At first, he thought they were making fun of him, but then he realized that they weren't pointing at him, they were pointing _above_ him. He looked up in time to see Arragor jumping out of a tree right toward him. He landed on top of Wither and pinned him to the ground.

Wither was scared out of his mind. All he could think was that now would be a really good time to miraculously discover his power if he had one. Arragor got in his face and said, "Oh, I have been waiting for this forever!" He raised a paw and smacked Wither in the face. Wither's vision blurred and he saw stars, but the worst was yet to come. Next, Arragor dug his claws into Wither's chest and raked them all the way down to his belly, making jagged gashes and drawing blood. Wither cried out in pain, drawing his friends' attention. By now they had beaten Arragor's friends into submission and rushed to aid their helpless friend.

Unfortunately, Arragor had enough time to get one last good shot in. He jumped off of Wither and whipped him with his tail, throwing him through the air, tumbling over and over until he came to a stop. "No! Wither!" shouted Renna. She ran to his side and turned him over. "Wither, are you okay?"

Wither looked up at her, his eyes were half open and out of focus. She heard him let out a small moan to let her know he was okay. She saw the long cuts going down his body with blood slowly oozing out of them. A fire burned dangerously in her eyes as she saw Arragor running away and suddenly, something clicked in her head. She took a deep breath and let a devastating beam of light explode out of her mouth. It lanced across the courtyard and struck Arragor in the back. He screamed as the intense rays burned his scales. The grass under the beam caught fire from the heat the light was giving off. After a few seconds Renna let up and the beam disappeared, but she was far from over. Everyone looked on in shock and awe. Renna was a shining beacon of brilliance. She glowed with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns, for there was nothing, more beautiful, or frightening than a light dragon in a fit of rage. The fury of a light dragon was known to last longer than the short lived burst of energy that most dragons experience, as Arragor was soon to find out.

Renna began walking toward the blackened, squirming mass that was Arragor. The grass around her feet burst into flames with every step she took and the air around her dazzling form shimmered and wavered like the streets of the city in the summer heat. She got in Arragor's face and he started to scream because her very presence was burning him even more than he already was. Over his cries of agony, Renna spoke to him, saying, "If you ever touch Wither again you'll get the same treatment. Oh, and while we're here I suppose I can tell you the same thing goes if you ever say those disgusting things to me again. You're just lucky I would never tell anyone about that. I'd be too embarrassed."

All of Renna's friends rushed toward her while Roxy and Elleca stayed with Wither. They were shouting to her, telling her that Arragor had suffered enough, but when they got too close trying to pull her away, her radiance burned them, making them jump back. She turned to them giving them all a fright. Her eyes were two suns of blinding white light. The usually tranquil and peace loving dragon was burning not only with light, but also fury. "No, I need to finish this."

She turned back to face Arragor again and spread her wings. She began to glow even brighter than she had before. Everyone had to look away and back up from the expanding aura of shimmering heat around her body as the light began to pulse and coalesce around her. All the light was channeled inside her and suddenly the buzzing stopped. The world fell silent. No birds chirped, no bugs buzzed, not a word was spoken. A blindingly bright dragon shaped star was standing next to Arragor. Anyone who stared directly at Renna had her image burned into their vision, for staring at her was just the same as staring into the sun. She looked at Arragor and let out a mighty roar. The light within her pulsed once and exploded out of her. The bubble of intense light was instantly covered in darkness.

Shadow Master Noh ran out of an alley and stood next to the bubble of darkness he had placed over Renna's light. He placed a paw on the protective barrier and closed his eyes in concentration. The bubble began to slowly expand and contract as Renna's fury and Noh fought for control. Renna was trying to release her energy and Noh was trying to suppress it. The bubble glowed a soft, dim orange color which made it look like twilight. Yarrow came jogging out of the same alley as Noh had and asked, "What's going on?"

Through grunts of strained effort, Noh told Yarrow, "It's Renna. She's gone supernova. I'm doing my best to suppress it, but you know what happens when a light dragon releases their fury."

Yarrow looked at the twilit bubble, then to Arragor, then looked around and saw Roxy and Elleca helping a bloodied Wither to his feet. He looked back at the bubble, which was glowing brighter and getting bigger. "If we don't stop her soon she'll either supernova and take out the city or worse." Every dragon master knew that if a light dragon's supernova was suppressed long enough, all the light could potentially collapse and form a black hole.

Yarrow placed his paw on the bubble, and using his powers over life, conveyed his thoughts to Renna. "_Renna, you need to let go of your fury. If you don't, the consequences will be cataclysmic_."

"_Yarrow? I can't! I've already released the fury! I'm sorry! I thought I could control it, but it was too powerful! I didn't know my own strength and now the light has a mind of its own!_"

"_Don't worry; I'm sure we'll figure something out. Just hold on, Renna._" Yarrow broke the connection and spoke to Noh. "She's lost control. There's not much we can do now."

Wither hobbled over with the help of Elleca and Roxy. Sora, Tera, Vera, and Psy asked him if he was alright. He gave them a nod and turned to Yarrow, asking, "Is she going to be okay?"

Yarrow looked at Wither with sad eyes and said, "I'm sorry, Wither. I'm afraid that no one is going to be okay. Her fury is going to kill us all. The question isn't if, but when."

Everyone looked at each other knowing that they were doomed, that there was nothing anyone could do to save the city. Yarrow lowered his head and said, "I blame myself. If only I had taught her better, but she knew the dangers of a light dragon's fury. That's why I made her read the Book of Light so early in her studies. I suppose there's nothing that can stop a dragon's fury."

Suddenly, Wither had an idea. It was a crazy idea, but it just might work. "Maybe there is."

Everyone looked at Wither and Yarrow asked, "What do you mean, Wither?"

"Yarrow, did you say that it was her _fury_ that would kill us all?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Tell me . . . what are fury crystals made of?"

There was a long pause as Yarrow eyed Wither with curiosity. Then his eyes grew wide and he said, "Yes, I see your point. Wither, normally I would never ask you to do anything dangerous, but-"

"I have to try."

Wither turned toward the ominous bubble that contained the blazing maelstrom. As he did so, the shadow shell was punctured by an intense beam of blinding light. Psy ran over and placed his paw on the bubble and it sealed itself again. Noh grunted, "Whatever you have planned, you'd better do it quick. We can't hold this forever."

Wither turned back to Yarrow and said, "Yarrow, I need to talk to Renna. Can you help me with that?"

Yarrow placed a paw on the slowly expanding dome and told Wither to place one paw on his and the other on the bubble. Wither did so and thought with his mind, "_Renna, can you hear me?_"

"_Wither? Are you okay?_"

"_I'm fine._"

"_Has Yarrow figured out how to save everyone?_"

"_Well, I have, but I need to ask you a question._"

"_What?_"

"_You're safe from your own light energy because it came from you. Now, I know it would be asking too much if I asked you to pass on that protection to all of Warfang, but do you think you could protect me?_"

"_I don't know._"

Yarrow cut in and said, "_It's easy, Renna. All you have to do is imagine Wither is a part of you. Do you think you can do that?_"

"_Yes . . . yes, I can do that._"

Wither gave a sigh of relief and said, "_Alright, I'm coming in. Hold on, Renna._" Wither stepped into the dome and was met with a soft, warm glow. He wasn't expecting this. He thought it would be hot and bright, but he easily walked up to Renna and sat down beside her. "You know, you're causing quite a problem right now."

She looked up at him and said, "I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. I saw you laying there, cut and bleeding, then I saw Arragor running away and I just lost it."

"Well, just promise you won't do it again."

"I'll never do it again, I swear it. So how do you plan to fix this? I can't do it; I don't know how you would manage it."

"Do you remember what we did in class today?"

Renna gasped and asked, "Wither, do you think you can do the same thing here?"

"I don't see why not."

Yarrow's voice filled their minds. "_Wither? You need to hurry! Noh and Psy can't take much more of this!_"

"Alright . . . I'm ready." Wither took a deep breath, raised up tall, and let out a long sigh. "I have no idea what to do."

"What!" shouted Renna in exasperation.

Yarrow calmly said, "_Maybe if you pretend the energy all around you is a giant fury crystal, you can absorb it._"

"Right, let's try this again." Wither took another deep breath, closed his eyes and imagined he was encased in a giant fury crystal.

It began to warm up inside the dome and at first, Wither thought it was the energy building up to explode, but then Renna shouted, "It's working!"

Wither opened his eyes and saw the light coursing into his body. The seeming increase in temperature was due to the fact that he was seething with Renna's anger. He felt her fury as if it was his own. It filled him up and began to crash back and forth inside him. When he finished absorbing all the light, Renna shouted, "Okay, Yarrow! He's done!"

The shadow dome instantly fell away and Noh and Psy fell with it, exhausted from the strain of containing Renna's supernova. Noh gasped, "Thank you . . . for the . . . help Psy . . . You did . . . well."

"Mmmmooohh . . . thanks."

Noh and Psy had helped save Warfang, but everyone was staring at Wither. He was filled with blinding light and looked like Renna did right before she went supernova. The buzzing noise coming from inside him grew louder and the light somehow grew even brighter, and then the light pulsed and all the light faded into Wither and the noise died down, leaving everyone in silence.

All the children in the courtyard began to cheer for Wither, knowing that he had saved them from certain death. He looked around and watched everyone cheering and whistling and smiling at him, all past prejudices forgotten. As he looked on, tears sprang into his eyes. He felt a paw on his shoulder and turned to see Yarrow beaming down at him. "Wither, be proud today. For what you have done makes you the greatest hero in history next to your parents. You may be ranked at the bottom of the class right now, but you have done something greater than any other dragon in your class ever will. I'm proud of you, Wither. I promise, you will get the recognition you deserve for this and together we will unlock the secrets of your mysterious power."

Yarrow turned to Noh who had recovered a bit from his efforts and was now able to stand. "I must also thank you and who is no doubt your finest student for holding Renna's fury at bay long enough for Wither to consume it. Without you two, we would have all been destroyed. Now Noh, please take Arragor to the nearest red crystal deposit. I have already healed him some with my power, but he is in a bad way. Hurry, his life is at risk."

Noh snatched up Arragor's burnt, limp body and ran down an alley, out of sight. Now Yarrow turned to Renna, saying, "As for you, young lady, I would have expected better of you. You're at the top of the class, I had you read the Book of Light, and I specifically warned you about the dangers of a light dragon going supernova. I told you that you can let the power fade away rather than releasing it if you feel your fury overtake you as it does to dragons who feel an overwhelming surge of negative emotions. Now Arragor is unconscious, he has third degree burns on about half his body and he may not make it. His life hangs in the balance right now. I know he probably instigated the attack as he always has before, but you need to learn to control yourself. You still have so much to learn."

Renna hung her head in shame and said, "I'm sorry, Yarrow. I promise I will never do it again. I was just so angry for what he did to Wither." She indicated the cuts going down Wither's body, chest to belly.

Yarrow shook his head and replied, "Oh yes, I'm sorry, Wither. I forgot about your wounds in all the excitement. Come on then, let's get you some red crystals too."

After Wither used some red crystals to heal his cuts, his friends all went home and Yarrow took him home. Yarrow stayed for a while and told Spyro and Cynder first, the events of that day's class to work his way up to the big tale, and then recounted what happened in the courtyard. They were amazed by the story and looked down at their son in astonishment. "So you've found his power?" asked Spyro in earnest.

Yarrow fidgeted a little and said, "Well, not exactly. We still have some work to do. We haven't got a clue as to _what_ his element is and so far he hasn't been able to use his powers on his own. It can only be seen when we present him with external sources of energy, and we only get glimpses at that, but mark my words, he will go on to do extraordinary things."

"There's still one thing I don't understand," pondered Cynder. "If Wither absorbed the supernova and all those fury crystals, then where is the energy now?"

All three of the elders turned to look at Wither and Yarrow said in a far off sounding voice, "As far as I can tell, it's inside him."

"But how can any dragon contain that much energy?" asked Spyro in stunned disbelief.

"I don't know, but I plan to find out. I will continue to teach the boy. Only time will reveal the answers we seek."

Wither cleared his throat and everyone let him speak. "I'm really tired. Can I go to bed?"

"Of course," replied Cynder. "You've more than earned it. Good night, Wither."

"Good night, my son. Sweet dreams," said Spyro.

Before Wither began his ascension up the tower, Yarrow said, "Good night, Wither. Get plenty of rest. Tomorrow is all about you."

Wither crawled into bed. He was exhausted from the day's excitement, yet he felt joy. For the first time ever, he felt like people appreciated him. Despite what everyone else thought, he still felt like he would never find any power inside him, locked away, hiding, sleeping like he should be. He still felt like there wasn't a spark of power inside him. These thoughts started to make him feel depressed again so he tried to go to sleep before they ruined his best day ever. He closed his eyes and felt himself drifting down . . . down . . . down.

He opened his eyes and saw that for some reason he was outside, and it was daytime. This confused him. He had just lain down in his bed and then . . . Then Wither realized that he must be dreaming. He got up and had a look around. The sun was shining down from a midmorning position, making it nice and warm, but not too hot. There was a slight, cooling breeze that made its way across the plain he was standing in. It ruffled the grass underfoot in little rippling waves and rustled the leaves on the trees that surrounded the large meadow that he found himself in. Birds were singing their songs back and forth to one another and chasing each other through the air in a carefree game of catch, while other small forest creatures did the same below. It was Wither's definition of a perfect day in the perfect spot. He felt the peace of this place pervade him as he took in the fresh air and let the sun's rays soak into his scales. He thought that perhaps a little sun bathing was in order, but before he could lay back down the ground began to shake. Thousands of crystals began to erupt up from out of the ground. In just a few seconds, the event was over and Wither stood in a small clearing in the middle of the crystalline field, admiring the new beauty it had taken on. As far as the eye could see, crystals of every kind jutted out of the ground. There were red ones, green ones, blue ones, and purple ones but as he slowly turned, looking around in wonder at them all, he found something even more wondrous waiting to be discovered behind him. There, before him, was a beautiful, black crystal. It looked just like the ones he had imagined when his parents had described them to him from the days of the Dark Master. Wither remembered absorbing all the other kinds of crystals, but he had never seen a black one before. He reached out and placed a paw on the crystal, and as he did so, the world dissolved around him.

He found himself surrounded by darkness. There was no sky, no ground, no rocks or trees or animals, only darkness. Wither felt himself swimming in an endless sea of nothingness. He leapt up, but didn't feel any sense of going up or coming back down. He flapped his wings and walked around, but felt no sense of going anywhere. Even better, he felt no resistance. His movements were fluid and smooth and he felt that he had no need to put forth any effort to move. He felt super strong, like he could lift a building no problem. That is, if there were any buildings to speak of. He looked around again, but saw nothing. He was about to lay down and close his eyes so that he could sleep in the peaceful nothingness, but suddenly, a voice spoke to him. "Do you like it here?"

Wither sat up straight and looked all around, but saw nothing and no one. "Who's there?"

"I am the Chronicler of this age. Do you like it here?"

"Where is here?"

"Nowhere."

"What? Where are you? Show yourself."

"As you wish." The darkness dissolved around Wither and he found himself standing in a circular room filled with books. They lined the walls of the room, which was mostly dominated by a large hourglass in the center. However, none of these things mattered much to Wither. His attention was focused on a light blue dragon that stood before him. "Hello. You must be Wither."

"How do you know my name?"

"It is my job to know everything about every dragon and record it in their respective books."

"You mean there's a book here for every dragon that has ever lived?"

"And then some."

Wither thought about this for a moment then asked, "Can I see my book?"

The old dragon smiled and said, "I bet you're wondering if you might find your power written in your book."

"It crossed my mind."

The dragon shook his head and replied, "I'm afraid you must find your power on your own. It is an important part of you and discovering it is an important step in your growth. To have it shown to you would be to slight yourself in your journey through life."

Wither gave a long sigh and said, "Oh, I see. The one book in the world that holds the answer to my question and I can't even see it. I bet I don't even have a power."

"That's not quite true, Wither. Every dragon in the world has control over one aspect of nature with the exceptions of your parents who have access to multiple elemental abilities."

"But I can't find mine."

"That doesn't mean that you don't have one. While I can't out and out tell you your abilities, I can help you by giving you hints. That's why I have brought you here. Think of me as a second teacher."

"I don't even know your name."

"It's Ignitus."

Wither's eyes grew wide in astonishment. "You're Ignitus! My mom and dad told me all about you! They think you're dead!"

Ignitus hung his head and said, "Yes, I know. I almost died, but I was saved and given the position of Chronicler of the new age, a position which I have served for the past twenty years and counting. However, my job consumes all of my time. I cannot leave this place and I am unable to contact your parents."

"Couldn't you just visit them in a dream like you are with me now?"

"The laws of the Chronicler's powers are complicated. I wouldn't expect you to understand. If you could, when you wake up, please tell your father I said hello. As you know, we were close."

"Of course, I promise I'll tell him."

"Thank you, Wither. That means a lot. Now down to business. What makes you think you don't have an element?"

"The fact that I don't have one."

Ignitus sighed at the young dragon's stubborn pessimism and said, "What about what you did today?"

"What about it?"

"No dragon has ever done what you did today."

"Yeah, but I didn't _do_ anything. I just absorbed energy. I've never expelled any."

"Well, what about the spark inside you that gives you the power to control an element."

"It feels like a hole. Every time I try to feel some kind of power there, I don't feel anything. My teacher, Yarrow, says that you can tell what kind of element you have based on the way you feel on the inside, but all I ever feel is . . . nothing!"

Ignitus smiled and leaned down to whisper directly to Wither's face, "Exactly!"

Wither opened his eyes to find that he was back in his room looking at his doorway. He didn't feel tired anymore, rather, he was full of energy. He got up and paced around his room. It was still dark outside, but he was wide awake, and his mind was racing with thoughts that wouldn't let him go back to sleep. Wither thought as he walked back and forth. Why would the Chronicler contact him? How was Ignitus the Chronicler? Why did he tell Wither that he had power, just to turn around and imply that he didn't?

Wither didn't have any answers to these questions, so he thought back to other smaller details that may have been important. He remembered the black crystal and the wonderful feeling of the endless darkness that he found himself in. His parents had always told him that the dark crystals were pure evil, but Wither always wondered if maybe their nature was just misunderstood. He recalled that they were capable of draining away a dragon's powers, but that's not what it did to Wither in his dream. If this dream was created by the Chronicler, then everything in it had meaning.

Then Wither had a string of ideas that hit him all at once. He remembered Yarrow telling him that the way a dragon feels inside depicts their element, but he had always felt that there was nothing inside him and Ignitus had just implied that this was indeed the case. The tales that elders told him about the dark crystals always included a recounting of how they seemed capable of consuming an infinite amount of energy . . . just like Wither. However, the dark crystal in his dream had had no effect on him. It wouldn't . . . if he had no energy to take. Then another thought hit him. He remembered skimming through a book in the library that talked about the connection between dragon's emotions and their powers. He recalled that the book said every dragon's element becomes enhanced with the right emotion. Fire dragons become stronger when angry, fear dragons become stronger when confident, shadow dragons get a rush when they become frightened, ice dragons were stronger when they experienced overwhelming sorrow or despair, and so on. Wither stopped pacing and looked up at the ceiling, remembering the times he had emptied his mind of all thought and emotion during the competition to calm his nerves. If anyone had asked what he was feeling, the answer would have been . . . nothing. One thought was burning in his mind. It was a crazy thought that didn't exactly make sense, but everything added up to it.

Wither ran out of his room and up the stairs. He wanted to test his theory, he had to be sure, he had to check right now. His mind wouldn't rest until he knew whether he was right or crazy. He snuck past his parents' room and up the stairs to the roof. The night was clear and still and a powerful excitement was rising in his chest as he stepped to the edge of the roof. Stars could be seen way up in the sky and Warfang slept below.

Wither reached the edge of the roof, looked down on the city below, and took a deep breath, clearing his mind. He shoved all thoughts from his head and tried to think of nothing at all and tried to feel nothing. He closed his eyes and saw nothing and took deep breaths in and out, in and out. He thought nothing, felt nothing, tried to be nothing. Then he felt a strange feeling. It felt like the ground moved out from under his feet, but he wasn't falling. All sound fell away and he stood there hoping and praying that it had worked. He slowly opened his eyes and was astonished to find that the world had disappeared.


	9. Chapter 8 Wither's Power

Chapter 8- Wither's Power

Wither was floating in the darkness that he had been in during his dream. He looked all around and saw nothing as far as the eye could see. Actually, words like 'far' and 'all around' didn't fit this place. You couldn't even call it a place. It was simply . . . nothing. There was nothing here because Wither was nowhere. He tried to move, but felt that same sense of going nowhere. After a moment of thought, he reasoned that he couldn't go anywhere because there was nowhere to go. He felt safe here, for there was nothing and no one to hurt him here. He was all alone, but where was he? Some thought was required to figure out this little conundrum. He imagined going back to his roof and the darkness dissolved around him as the world fell back into place. His heart jumped and he shivered with excitement. This was it, he had finally discovered his power . . . he didn't have any.

It all made sense. Every time he looked inward, he felt nothing. Every time he tried to release some sort of energy, nothing happened. Whenever he absorbed energy, he felt temporarily weakened. The answer was right in front of him all along; he was just too blind to see it! The reason why he could never use his power was because he never knew what it was. All other dragons knew their powers at a young age because none were as unique as Wither. Now that he thought about it, he had already used his power before. He was sure of it now. During the finals, when Xath had paralyzed Vera, Wither had calmed his mind when his father told him to relax. Then he wished the electricity coursing through Vera would dissipate, and suddenly, Vera was free, then again, when Arragor blacked out in his fight with Renna. These events were all his doings and he hadn't even known it.

He looked down at his paws and wondered what he could do with his new found power. First, it would need a name, he thought as he began to pace again on the roof. He remembered Yarrow saying at the finals that it was like Arragor just ran out of power. He thought about all the fury crystals he consumed and Renna's supernova. All this power had to go somewhere, that's what Yarrow said. Wither imagined being where all the absorbed power was and the world dissolved into darkness. Once again, he was floating in the endless abyss that he decided to call the Void, yet there was nothing there as usual. Wither went back to his roof and thought, if the Void was where the power was and there was nothing there, then that meant that the power ceased to exist when it went there. This stood to reason that the Void didn't really exist either. It was some kind of negative, non-existent world. Wither thought that if power disappeared into the Void at his command then that meant that the Void was the source of his power. Since the Void was the source of his power, and the Void didn't exist because it was nowhere, Wither decided to call his element nothing. He had nothing. He had no power. He was so elementally challenged that he actually had the very absence of power, and this was his gift. No wonder he had such a bad reaction to the green crystals. They were a valuable source of energy to most dragons, but the fact that they imbued the user with energy was the problem. Energy was a direct opposition to his element. What normally supercharged others weakened his natural abilities.

Wither stopped pacing and stood in the middle of the roof. Now that he knew what his power was he could use it whenever he wanted, but it was still easier if he cleared his mind and felt nothing first. He wondered if he could somehow breath nothingness like other dragons breathed their elements. He took a deep breath and blew, and was pleased to see darkness pour out of his mouth. It hung in the air like a black cloud twisting around, but otherwise staying put. He waited for it to dissipate, but when it didn't, he reached forward and touched it with a paw. He stuck his head in and saw that he was in the mysterious Void. After a moment he pulled his head out and looked around. His gaze settled on a tiny pebble, which the excited young dragon tossed into the black cloud. When it didn't come out the other side, he decided that it must be some kind of doorway to the Void. He wondered if he could get the pebble back somehow and as he did so it flew out of the cloud and landed at his feet. Wither blinked and looked at the tiny rock then back to the cloud. After another moment of thought, he wished for a fury crystal that he had absorbed to come back. Sure enough, a purple crystal fell out of the cloud and landed on the ground with a loud clinking noise.

Wither picked up the crystal and looked at the cloud wishing for it to disappear. With this thought, the cloud shrank away until there was nothing left. By now it was obvious to Wither that this Void would do anything he wanted it to. He was overjoyed as he stood on top of the tower that was his home and looked down on the city again, holding the crystal in his paw. A sense of triumph filled him as he watched the first rays of dawn peek over the horizon. He had finally discovered his power. This would change everything. He couldn't wait to tell Yarrow that . . . He thought to himself for a moment and watched his reflection in the glossy, purple surface of the gem. After a few seconds he imagined the power draining out of the physical crystal itself. The violet tint in the crystal disappeared toward Wither's paw until all that was left was a clear, empty husk. He narrowed his eyes and imagined nothingness filling the crystal. Darkness flowed into the gem from his paw and filled it until the whole thing was black. Wither smiled down at his creation. All his life he wanted to see a black crystal and now he was responsible for _making_ one.

He thought back to his parents' stories about the reign of the Dark Master. They told him that these crystals were extremely durable and could absorb an infinite amount of energy from dragons. This crystal could be used as a potent weapon. Wither threw it behind him and a small black cloud caught it up in midair and disappeared. He was pleased with the speed at which he was learning to use his power, but there were so many more possibilities that nothing could provide. He decided to keep his discovery to himself, at least for the time being. No one knew what his power was or that he even had control over it for that matter. This was an advantage that he didn't want to throw away. He worked out that he would play dumb in class and come out on the roof late at night while everyone was sleeping to train and teach himself, but for now he decided to go back to bed. Yarrow expected him to be alert and ready to 'learn' in class. He snuggled down into his cushions and fell asleep. Wither rested easy because for the first time in his life he was truly happy.

The next morning, Cynder woke Wither up so he could get to class. He told her that he would come down in a minute. After she left his room he formed a small black cloud in his paw just to make sure last night wasn't all some wonderful dream. He bounced down the stairs and sat down next to his parents to eat. "Good morning!"

Spyro swallowed the piece of meat he had been chewing on and said, "Good morning, Wither. You seem quite happy today."

Wither dipped his head, pretending to eat so he could hide his smile. "Oh, it must be from what happened yesterday."

Cynder wrapped a wing around her little boy and pulled him in closer, saying, "We're so proud of you, Wither. You saved all of Warfang yesterday. You have every right to be happy today. Maybe now those boys will leave you alone."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," replied Spyro. "Those boys will probably never learn their lesson, especially that Arragor. I took a walk this morning and I hear he's nearly made a full recovery from the incident that occurred yesterday."

Wither raised his eyebrows in surprise. Arragor must be a fast healer to nearly be over all of that the next day. "I agree with both of you. I don't think Arragor or his friends have learned their lesson and probably never will, but I also believe I won't have to worry about them anymore."

Spyro and Cynder looked at each other in confusion then looked down at their surprisingly confident son. Cynder was about to ask him why that would be, but before she got the chance, Wither got up and said, "Well, it's been nice talking to you, but I need to get to class. Good thing it's Friday, huh? I can't wait to have the weekend all to myself. Bye now!"

Wither's parents watched him march out the door. He held his head up and had a strange air of confidence about him that had never been there before. They couldn't quite place a claw on it, but there was definitely something different about him. He clearly wasn't the same dragon he used to be. "I hope what happened yesterday hasn't made him overconfident."

Cynder turned to Spyro and said, "I hope he'll be okay. It looks like he wants to go to class without an escort today."

Wither made his way toward Yarrow's house. Along the way he saw other young dragons like him heading for class. They all stopped and stared as he passed them in the streets. Many of them whispered to each other, but none dared approach him. He merely smiled and laughed on the inside, knowing that they had no clue what secret he held from them. However, it was hard to ignore the adults that were doing the same thing now. Older dragons that he didn't even know would walk by and say things like, 'Good morning, Wither!' 'Hey, Wither!' 'How's it going, Wither?' News of his deed in the courtyard sure traveled fast. On his way to class he saw Elleca who had no problem walking up to him to talk. "Hey, Wither!"

"Guess how many people have said that to me this morning."

"Five?"

"Seven."

"You're famous now! You've saved the lives of everyone in this city and everyone knows it. I need to go to class. Bye!" She walked away and as she did so she stroked Wither gently under his chin with the end of her tail, sending very noticeable shivers rippling all over his body. She giggled and left him standing there, staring after her.

"Wha . . . ? Oh . . . I guess . . . I need to get to class too . . . Bye." Wither continued on his way, wondering what had just happened.

When he got to Yarrow's house the ancient dragon was waiting for him outside. "Wither! Good morning. Renna isn't here yet, but would you like to begin anyway?"

"You know, I'd like to ask you something."

"Fire away."

"Shouldn't you really be working with Renna today? I know you're excited about what I did yesterday and eager to work on that so you can finally figure me out, but don't you think it's much more important to make sure Renna won't kill everyone in a fit of rage? You have much to teach for the both of us, but what she needs to learn is far more important, for everyone's sake, don't you think?"

Yarrow sighed and said, "I suppose you're right. Perhaps I was playing favorite; after all I have known you since you were just an egg. I just want to help you, but you're right. I need to attend to Renna today, but you need to at least learn something today. Do you have any questions for me?"

Wither thought for a moment, and then he asked, "Why can't the Chronicler contact everyone in their dreams?"

Yarrow's eyes opened wide at the unexpected question and he asked, "How did you know that?"

"I was visited by the Chronicler in my dreams last night. He told me that he couldn't contact just anyone through their dreams and I wondered why."

Yarrow lay down in front of Wither to be at eye level with him. "The Chronicler spoke to you in your dreams? That's quite an honor young dragon. What did he say to you?"

Wither opened his mouth and instantly faltered, wondering what to tell Yarrow. The older dragon saw Wither thinking and mistook his hesitation as an attempt to gather his thoughts and waited patiently, giving Wither time to come up with a half-truth, which he was excellent at coming up with due to his terrible lying skills. "He said he knew what my element was, but couldn't tell me what it was. He only gave me clues and hints. It was confusing stuff, but he said he couldn't talk to just anyone in their dreams. Why is that?"

"The laws of the Chronicler are not always clear, but I do know that for some reason the Chronicler cannot contact anyone they knew before they became the Chronicler."

"That explains why he couldn't talk to my mom or dad. The new Chronicler is the old Fire Master, Ignitus."

Yarrow perked up and said, "Is that so? I thought Ignitus was dead."

"Well . . . he's not."

"That's good news. Have you told your parents?"

"Oh! I forgot! Oh well, I'll tell them after class."

"Your father would really appreciate that. He and Ignitus were very close when he was your age. Thank you for telling me about your interesting dream. Is there anything else you would like to ask before Renna gets here?"

Wither thought for a moment, then came up with another question. He was a bit reluctant to ask it because he knew he would be risking further questioning by asking it, but Yarrow saw him thinking about it and asked, "Yes? What is it, Wither? Remember I am your teacher. Ask me any question. It is my job to answer it to the best of my ability."

Wither looked up at Yarrow and asked, "Uh . . . Yarrow, is the world we live in the only one?"

Yarrow crinkled his brow in a small frown. "What do you mean? Do you mean Warfang, or our whole planet, or . . . something else?"

"Something else. Are there other worlds that can be accessed from this one by some kind of . . . portal or something?"

Now Yarrow understood what Wither was referring to and he stood up and said, "Well, there is Convexity, the in between world where the Dark Master was imprisoned. It was an air lock between this world and the realms of darkness before Spyro caused it to implode in his battle with your mother. Other than that I can't think of anything else. Why would you ask that?"

Just then, Renna came from behind a bush and said, "Hey! I'm not late am I?"

Yarrow turned his attention to his other pupil and said, "No, you're just in time. Renna, due to the events that occurred yesterday, I believe I should work with you today."

"Oh, okay . . . I guess."

Later, under the pavilion in Yarrow's garden, Yarrow was teaching Renna techniques to use in case she ever became enraged again. These techniques were designed to help a dragon get their anger under control. While Yarrow was busy teaching Renna, Wither slipped off into the garden, but didn't go too far. Once the thick foliage concealed him from view he wasted no time. As soon as he was out of sight he opened a portal to the Void and jumped in. He let the nothingness surround him. He couldn't get over the amazing feeling that overcame him when he came here. When he was in the Void he was super strong, he was all powerful, he was everything. This whole world belonged to him, was made for him. He controlled this place, nothing could hurt him here, it provided the power he needed. After a moment, Wither phased back into the garden and conjured several small nothing clouds and let them dance and swirl around his body. He had them merge together, separate, scatter, and fly through the garden.

Wither was enjoying himself as he watched the clouds go wherever he pleased. Then he heard Yarrow shout, "Wither! Where are you!"

Wither ran back to the pavilion and asked, "What is it?"

Yarrow was sitting next to Renna and frowning at Wither. Renna was looking at him with one eyebrow raised while Yarrow asked, "Wither, what are you doing? You need to pay attention. Renna pays attention when I work with you and you need to do the same. Even though I'm not working with you, there's still much you can learn by listening and observing."

"Sorry Yarrow. I'll pay attention."

Renna grinned at him and rolled her eyes before Yarrow turned back to her to continue teaching her. Wither gave a sigh and lay down to watch in boredom. Normally he enjoyed watching Yarrow work with Renna, but today he was overly anxious to be on his own so he could test out his new found abilities. The day crawled by at an unbearable rate and by the time class was over Wither was falling asleep. When Yarrow dismissed Renna, Wither got up and nearly sprinted away, but Yarrow called out, "Wither, wait here for a moment."

Renna turned around and waited, but Yarrow told her to go on home. She waved goodbye to Wither and left. When she was gone Yarrow asked, "Wither, is there anything you wish to tell me? You seemed a bit distracted today. Is there something on your mind?"

Wither smiled and replied, "No, there's nothing on my mind, Yarrow."

Yarrow eyed Wither for a moment then said, "You know, Wither, I may be your teacher, and I may hold the wisdom one only gains from many years of life experience, but we never stop learning. If you ever learn anything interesting that you think I don't know, I would love for you to share."

Wither looked up at his teacher and oldest friend. He knew. Wither knew he knew. They had spent a lot of time together when Wither was just a child. Yarrow was almost like a grandfather to him. They had a special connection. Yarrow knew Wither so well that he knew he was hiding something. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind."

Yarrow sighed and said, "Very well. I will be watching you very closely from now on. Tomorrow is going to be all about you, Wither. I hope you don't waste anyone's time."

"You said that yesterday."

"I mean it today. Wither, you're like a son to me. I would hope you wouldn't keep any secrets from me."

The suspicion, Wither could deal with, being put on the spot in class, he would have crossed that bridge when he got there, but the guilt of hiding something from Yarrow was too much. Wither looked away and tapped his claws on the tiles of the pavilion, while biting his lower lip in thought. Yarrow could see the internal struggle plain as day, but he waited patiently, wanting Wither to be the one to say it. "If I could share a secret with you and keep it a secret from everyone else I would."

"So you admit you know something."

"I know nothing, and that's the truth. I wouldn't lie to you, Yarrow." Wither looked deep into Yarrow's eyes and said, "It's nothing."

Yarrow stared back at Wither with a hurt expression. That Wither would lie to his face about anything, especially something as important as what he suspected the secret to be, was unthinkable. Wither had always told him everything, even things that he wasn't comfortable going to his parents with. He opened his mouth, about to convey his deep disappointment to his pupil, but then something clicked in his head. The words that Wither had spoken caught in his mind. '_There's nothing on my mind?_' '_I know nothing?_' Wither had chosen odd wording, and he spoke with such conviction, that were it not for Yarrow's wisdom and the vibes he was getting from Wither, he very well would have believed him, which was stranger still considering Wither had always been a terrible liar. Then he almost seemed to repeat himself again for good measure. '_It's nothing_.' Nothing . . . nothing . . . wait. Suddenly, the disappointment on Yarrow's visage vanished and was replaced by the beginnings of comprehension. The crystals . . . the supernova . . . Arragor. Yarrow leaned toward Wither, his mouth half open, thinking, then he said, "We may be years apart in age, but I believe we are best friends. I'll make you a deal. I'll teach you separate from Renna and tell no one what we do, but I'll only give you a week to reveal yourself. If you don't tell anyone by the end of the week, I'll do it."

"Just the two of us? You promise you'll tell no one?"

"Yes, I'll do that for you."

"Deal."

"Now tell me young dragon, is it my imagination or have you discovered your power?"

"How could you tell?"

"I know you. I believe I've figured it out now, but just in case, go ahead and tell me what it is. I've wanted to discover this for a long time. The suspense is killing me."

Wither smiled and said, "I told you, Yarrow. I wouldn't lie to you. It's nothing."

"Are you implying that your element is literally nothing?"

"Yes! It was so obvious; I don't know why we didn't notice it before! You told me to look inside myself and feel my spark because it would tell me what I am, but every time I tried it, I couldn't feel anything. It always felt like there was nothing there because there wasn't anything there! I don't have any power and that is my element, nothing!"

"Show me," breathed Yarrow in a hushed whisper.

Wither didn't even have to break eye contact with Yarrow. He didn't move a muscle as he formed a black cloud above him with a thought. Yarrow looked up at it and stared in amazement. "Is it dangerous?"

"No." Wither jumped up into the cloud and allowed it to shrink away.

Yarrow stood there, mind racing. "Wither? Wither!"

Wither phased back into the garden in front of Yarrow and gave him a cheerful, "Hello!"

"Where did you go?"

"A dark place of nothingness. I call it the Void. From what I can tell, it's another world that doesn't exist. It's everywhere, all around us, and it seems to be the source of my power."

"Fascinating. This has many potential applications. We will both learn much about your element together. You will be as much my teacher as I am yours, for you are the first of your kind, so nothing is known about . . . nothing. Tell me, what do you know how to do with your gift so far?"

"Well, I can phase in and out of the Void. I can suck energy as well as matter into the Void and take it back out. Oh! And I also made this." Wither pulled the dark crystal out of the Void and showed it to Yarrow.

Suddenly, a strange assortment of whisper like sounds emanated from the crystal. Yarrow gasped and stumbled backward in an attempt to get away, but fell down in his weakened haste. "Wither! Put it away!"

Wither panicked and threw it back into the Void. "Yarrow! Are you okay?"

Yarrow picked himself up and shook it off. "You _made_ that?"

"Yeah, last night."

"How?"

"I pulled one of the fury crystals that you had me absorb out of the Void and instead of trying to consume the entire crystal, I drained the energy out and replaced it with nothing."

"And it doesn't affect you at all?"

"No, it actually makes me feel safe. If I have a bunch of these with me, no one can use their elements against me; I'll drain them away, but I think I can do that myself anyway."

Yarrow closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "You say you took a fury crystal out of the Void at your house last night?"

"Yeah, on the roof."

"You absorbed those here . . . and took one out there. Wither, you said you thought the Void is everywhere, but perhaps it's only wherever you go. I have a way to test this. If the Void is everywhere like you believe, then I think you should be able to enter it from one point and exit at another."

Wither perked up and asked, "You mean like teleporting?"

"Yes, that's right. If you can do that, then it will make you the first dragon that has ever done so. Why don't you give it a try?"

Wither trotted over to one side of the pavilion and turned around to face the other side. Thinking out loud, he said, "Maybe if I imagine the space between here and the other end of the pavilion being nothing . . ." Wither jumped forward and as he did so his body disappeared at a certain point in space. As he passed through it he vanished from head to tail and at the same time reappeared on the other side of the pavilion. Yarrow watched in awe during the brief moment when the rear half of Wither had yet to pass through the entry point and his head end was popping out of a random point in midair, ready to land on the ground. As the tip of his tail finished the transition, Wither alighted on the tiles at the other end of the pavilion several yards away. He had cut out the entire distance between the two points and made the journey in a single bound. It worked.

Yarrow was ecstatic. Wither had never seen him as excited as he was now. "Excellent, Wither! Absolutely amazing! This proves that this Void of yours is all around us just as you said!"

"You've been calling it the Void. Does that mean you want to make that its official name?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Uh . . . 'cause you're an adult, and adults always name stuff."

"Wither, this is your power, this is your discovery, and no one has the right to name it except for you. If you want to call that place the Void, then that's what it is and that's what everyone else should call it."

"Wow! Thanks, Yarrow!"

"Yes well, as much as I would love to continue, if you want to keep this a secret you had better be on your way, lest people become suspicious as to why you stay so late after class. Though I can't imagine why you want to keep this a secret."

"I have my reasons." Wither had his mind on rather dark thoughts as he said this, and his wonderings bled over into slight facial expressions, which Yarrow picked up on.

"Not going to get into mischief, I hope?"

"Not unless the situation calls for it."

"Good. I have taught you well. As long as you only use your powers to stop trouble, rather than going looking for it, then no one can blame you for anything you do. Now go home. Your parents will start to wonder where you are."

"Okay, I'll use the new shortcut I just discovered! Bye Yarrow, see you tomorrow."

"Goodbye, Wither. I look forward to tomorrow."

Wither lunged forward and disappeared. He reappeared in his room and landed on his bed. He grinned to himself at the thought of being able to traverse great distances in an instant with so little effort. After his secret was out he wouldn't travel any other way. Well . . . maybe a little walking wouldn't hurt, he thought to himself. He wouldn't want to get fat and lazy. Looking around, he was thankful that no one was in his room. He didn't think anyone would be, which was why he chose to come here.

After a few seconds of rest, he pushed himself up and left his room, turning toward the stairs leading up. His parents weren't in their room on the floor above his, so he continued on toward the roof. When he got there he found his parents sitting on the edge, looking down at the city. He always loved playing a game with them. He would try to sneak up on them and pounce on one of them before they caught him. So far he had never once been able to sneak up on them. Their senses were too finely tuned due to the war they had fought in twenty years ago. They were both very skilled warriors that could easily tell that their son was right behind them, about to pounce. This time would be a bit different. They both had their backs to him and were talking to each other about their day. Wither was a good twenty-five feet from his mom and dad, so they might not know he was here yet. If he shifted to them, they wouldn't see him do it, so he hunched down, watching his prey. He moved a little to get his body in the right position, and once he was wound up and in position he lunged. As he did so, he shifted inches away from his father and landed on his back, shouting, "Gotcha!"

Spyro nearly jumped off the roof as he exclaimed in surprise, "Whoa!" He turned around and saw his son clinging to his back spines and laughing up at him. Both of his parents were surprised to say the least.

"I didn't hear him coming at all," said Cynder as she turned to Spyro.

He faced her again and replied, "I know! He scared me!" He turned his attention back to his son and asked, "How did you do that?"

"Oh, you know . . . Yarrow's a good teacher."

Both of his parents looked at each other in amazement before Cynder said, "I'm glad Yarrow can teach you something, Wither. It's nice to know that you're not just sitting in class, watching Yarrow teach Renna, feeling forgotten."

"So how was your day?" asked Spyro.

"It was quite interesting actually. Now when people point at me and whisper in the street, I feel like it might actually be something good. You wouldn't believe how many people came up to speak to me on my way to class this morning."

Cynder gave Wither a sly smile and turned her head so that she was staring at him with one eye that was sparkling with laughter. "Wind Master Valorie told me she saw you this morning."

"Oh?"

"Mmm, yes. She said that you were engaged in conversation with a lovely little lady named Elleca."

Wither sat up quickly, eyes wide, and stuttered, "Wha . . . ? I . . . I don't know what . . . she came up to _me_ and . . ."

Spyro started laughing and said, "Wither, it's alright. Your mother was just teasing you."

Spyro and Cynder grinned at each other, taking delight in their son's embarrassment, but stopped when they saw a serious look cross his face. He looked up at them and said, "I have something important to tell you. I didn't tell you this morning because I needed to get to class, but last night I had a dream."

Wither proceeded to tell them about the strange and wonderful dream he had. He told them of the field of crystals, the dark crystal, the Chronicler, and his hints for Wither. When he finished his story, his father spoke up. "If the Chronicler visited you in your dreams, then you should take heed to everything he told you. I was lucky enough to meet the Chronicler myself, both in my dreams and in person. He is a very wise dragon with the power to see and record all, and can even see things that may happen in the future. It's a big responsibility being Chronicler, but someone has to do it. I wonder how he's doing?"

Wither looked into his father's eyes and gathered himself for what he had to say next. "That's just it. There's one more thing I have to tell you. The Chronicler was being very mysterious so I asked him what his name was and he told me . . . he told me that it was . . . Ignitus."

Spyro's face slackened and his expression turned blank, devoid of any perceivable emotion. After only a few seconds of thought, he leaned down to face Wither nose to nose and asked, "Ignitus is the Chronicler? Ignitus . . . is _alive_?"

"Yes, he told me he can't contact you in your dreams, otherwise he would in a heartbeat. I talked to Yarrow about my dream today too and he told me it's because he knew you before he became the Chronicler. I guess that makes a difference."

Tears welled up in Spyro's eyes, but he didn't cry. It still freaked Wither out because it was the closest he had ever seen his father come to it. The Purple Dragon closed his eyes and said in a whispered voice, for fear of releasing the tears he held in if he used his vocal cords, "Thank you. Thank you for telling me, Wither. This means a lot to me. I thought he died in the Belt of Fire in the war against Malefor those twenty years ago. It's good to know that he's alive and watching over us all."

Cynder placed a paw on his shoulder, a joyful smile creeping across her face. It wasn't often Spyro showed his sensitive side, due to his male instincts that told him to push feelings inside, so this was a rare treat that she thoroughly enjoyed. While she thought it was sweet to see him tear up at the knowledge that his long thought dead father figure was still alive and well, she knew better than to talk about it anymore, at least until they were alone. "Come on, Spyro. Dinner's downstairs. Let's go eat."

Wither waved them on and said, "You go on ahead, I'm not hungry."

Cynder looked him over and asked him if he was feeling well, but he assured her that he had simply eaten a big lunch with Yarrow and Renna, which was the truth. She turned and walked down the stairs, Spyro following her close behind. When they were both gone, Wither took his place at the edge of the roof where his parents had just been. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. As he sat on the edge, looking down, a thought trickled into his mind. He was still too young to fly, so normally, for a dragon his age to jump from this height would be suicide . . . normally.

Wither looked down toward his front door, pondering his power. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." He jumped. As he fell, the wind rushed past him, making it cool and slightly noisy. Everything around him became a blur as he picked up speed. His tower was quite tall, the tallest in Warfang, which made for a long fall. When he got close to the ground he caught himself up in a black cloud and felt the speed melt off. There was no sense of deceleration, as he had fallen into a place where movement meant nothing. He was no longer moving, but the transition from rapid free fall to an utter stand still had transpired in an instant. The world materialized around him as he fell from a black cloud, back on top of his roof where he had jumped. He sat there breathless, and then he took another deep breath and let out a loud whoop. He rolled over and started laughing. It was the kind of laughter that one could only get from the sheer thrill of an exciting rush. He couldn't stop laughing as he thought about the stunt he had just pulled. In his hysteric laughter he accidently rolled off the roof again and shifted back quickly before he picked up too much speed.

When he finally got over his fit of excited laughter and merriment he sat up and actually thought about how he shifted. He imagined where he was and where he wanted to be. Then he imagined the space between the two points being nothing at all. Finally, all he had to do was move a little and like magic, he was there. Basically, what Wither did was turn the space into nothing. Even space was something, but nothing was nothing. The power of nothing probably had many applications; they were merely hidden from his knowledge. His power could probably stretch as far as his imagination. He thought that all he might have to do is think of new ways to try out his power and see if it would work.

He looked down in thought and questioned that if space was something and he could turn that into nothing, then would it be crazy to think he might be able to turn anything into nothing? He shifted to his room and poked his head out the door to see if anyone was in the hallway. When he saw that the coast was clear, he popped back inside his room and stared at the wall. He imagined it being nothing like space when he shifted. To his joy, the wall became see through. A shadow of the wall still appeared to be where the wall once was, but he could see the hallway on the other side. He stepped forward and slowly tried to place a paw against the wall. When it passed through the wall with zero resistance, he walked through the new exit in wonder. He turned around and looked back at the wall. With a thought, it returned to its normal opaque state. He clawed at the granite to find that the wall was solid once more.

Wither smiled and said to himself, "I can walk through walls. I guess that makes me a ghost."

With these words came a thought that intrigued him. He didn't hesitate. Immediately, he made himself transparent. He stared down at his body, which still appeared to be there, but wasn't. He was nothing, he didn't exist right now. When he bent his head down far enough he could see right through himself. He made a game of jumping through walls, going in and out of rooms without using the proper doorways. After a while, he ended this game and shifted back to the roof to train himself in the art of nothing.

He practiced on into the night, trying to master his element. Once, before it got dark, he was almost caught by his parents who had come up to say good night. He had heard them coming and put away the half dozen nothing clouds he had been trying to control simultaneously just as they got to the roof. Luckily, he spent most of his time on the roof anyway, so they didn't question him for being up there for hours. When they left, he waited a moment to make sure he was alone, and then continued his efforts to master nothing.

After practicing for hours, Wither stopped and went down the stairs just to be safe. He lay down on his bed, exhausted from his day of training. He thought to himself that tomorrow would be a good day. It was going to be Saturday, which meant Wither and Yarrow would be able to make up for lost time while everyone else enjoyed their weekend. Wither drifted off to sleep, ready for the next day and ready to learn more about his unique gift.


	10. Chapter 9 Revelation

Chapter 9- Revelation

"WAKE UP!"

Wither vaulted out of his bed, yelling in surprise at the shouts which were coming from Renna. After a moment, he noticed that all of his friends were in his room, including the two newest additions to the group, Roxy and Elleca. After that day in the park when they had helped with the fight against Arragor and his gang, everyone decided to let them in. In all the excitement, Wither hadn't had the time to get to know them very well. However, after the initial meeting, they all met up later and talked for a while. It turned out that they were on Wither's side, and found anyone who thought little of him due to his differences as shallow fools that deserved the kind of beating that they had dished out to help save Wither.

As far as appearances went, Elleca was a little out of the ordinary. Rather than the vibrant sun-yellow that was characteristic of most electric dragons, she had dazzling, golden-yellow scales that refracted the light in much the same way as Renna's. She had pearly white wing membranes and a platinum colored belly. Two lightning bolt shaped horns shot out of the back of her head, the jagged edges curving them down so that they remained parallel with her skull. As for her tail spade, it was comprised of three tiny coils that sometimes sparked when they touched the ground. These coils were the most intriguing aspect of Elleca's body. After being checked over by several professionals at birth, it was concluded that her unique biology had granted her bones made of an organic compound which contained a high concentration of silver. The coils at the end of her tail were actually proven to be flexible extensions of many miniscule bones that were connected by dozens of joints, which allowed the coils to be quite flexible. The tail itself was therefore a powerful weapon that could electrocute anything that was unfortunate enough to touch the lethal extensions. Elleca had minimal control over these coils. While she could turn them on and off, she couldn't control the electrical flow that surged through them when they were live. Since they were capable of killing, she almost never turned them on, and when she did, it was only to intimidate people that infuriated her more than normal. Other than these markings, there was only one other thing that set her apart from any other dragon. Her golden body was marred by only one birthmark perfectly shaped like a little sliver heart on her left hindquarter. While it was impolite, due to the positioning, Wither found it rather difficult not to stare at this particular marking when he thought no one was looking. However, Elleca had caught him once and merely covered her muzzle with a paw to giggle silently into it.

Roxy, in stark contrast, was the perfect example of the earth dragon stereotype. He was dark green, had a dirt brown belly and tan wings. The tail spade at the end of his tail was a club with small spikes poking out at regular intervals and his horns looked strong and powerful, definitely made for ramming opponents. He was larger than other dragons his age, though he didn't quite match up with Obsidius, and was ever so slightly stronger physically and he was elementally. In short, he was a miniature Terrador.

Now both dragons and the rest of his friends were in his room staring at him with large grins painted on their faces. After the initial shock Wither asked in exasperation, "What are you doing in my room!"

"We came over to see what you wanted to do today," explained Renna. "Your parents told us that you were asleep, but they said it was okay for us to come up here and wake you up."

"You have a really nice house," commented Roxy. "It's so big! Your room is the size of my living room!"

"Thanks. My parents just let you come in here while I was asleep and wake me up?"

"Your dad said something about pay back for you nearly scaring him off your roof," drawled Psy with a grin.

Roxy started to say, "Hey Wither, what-"

"What do you want to do today, Wither?" Elleca asked over Roxy's question.

Roxy raised his upper lip, baring a solitary fang and said, "Hey! I was ta-"

"Yeah, no one cares. So Wither, what do you want to do today?"

"Well, I was actually going to spend the day with Yarrow. Sorry, we've already made plans for today," said Wither as he eyed a smoldering, but silent Roxy.

"Aw, you want to hang out with your teacher on a Saturday?" asked Tera.

"Where's the fun in that?" finished Vera.

"Guys, you're not being very fair," mumbled Sora. "Wither has already made plans. Maybe he wants to try to learn today or maybe he just wants to be with Yarrow. My mom told me they've always been best friends."

Everyone shuffled around at these words, and then Renna looked back at Wither. "Does this have something to do with why Yarrow held you after class yesterday?"

Wither didn't want to give away his secret, but he didn't want to lie to Renna either. "It has a little bit to do with that, but don't worry, I'm not in trouble or anything like that. It was my idea to go back today. We can do something some other time, okay?"

"Okay, but you owe us now. We'll find something to do without you today, but next time you're going with us," said Renna with a hint of mock anger in her voice and a whisper of a smile on her face. They said goodbye to their friend and left him alone in his room.

Wither stretched like a cat and let out a long yawn to wake himself up. Then he jumped forward and shifted to Yarrow's garden. After he left his room, Renna came back around the corner saying, "Have fun today, Wither. Huh? Wither? Where'd you go? Hello?" She searched all around, but there wasn't anywhere to hide in his room. She stood in the middle of his room in confusion, wondering where he went.

Psy poked his head around the corner and asked with one raised and questioning eyebrow, "Are you coming?"

Renna looked around one last time wondering how she could have missed him, and then turned around and followed everyone downstairs and outside.

Wither shifted right in front of Yarrow, who was just settling down to eat breakfast. He jumped and almost choked on his first bite. "Gha! You scared me! I'm going to have to get used to that."

"Sorry Yarrow. I just couldn't wait to get started today!"

"I'm glad you're so eager to learn, and on a Saturday, too. Are you sure you want to give today up? You wouldn't rather go do something with your younger friends?"

"Nah, I need to catch up with everyone else, and besides, we're friends too. This should be fun!"

"I'm glad you think so. Are you hungry? I won't eat all of this if you haven't eaten breakfast."

"Thanks. I was so excited I forgot to eat." After a few minutes of shoveling food in, Wither stood and told Yarrow he was ready. "You know something, Yarrow? It just occurred to me that I have shifted before."

"Oh? Tell me about it."

"That day, when the competition was starting and Arragor attacked Renna and me, I think I shifted. Arragor was about to hurt Renna and as he prepared himself, I felt this strange feeling. My mind went blank and I acted without thinking because there wasn't enough time. I jumped forward and tried to push Renna out of the way, hoping we could escape him. I must have shifted us enough to dodge his attack without it being obvious what I had done, but we both felt this strange feeling. It was like the world moved around us a bit. Not much, just enough to make us feel disoriented, but we managed to get away."

"Ah yes, I remember that. After hearing about that I watched you closely for a while."

"I saw you looking at me during some of the fights during the finals. I was wondering why you didn't stop the fights."

Yarrow bowed his head and said, "I wasn't paying attention to the fights like I should have been. Plus, I was also trying to see if somehow you would do something to save your friends. It was a foolish thing for me to do, just call it a senior moment. I never even realized that my plan worked. You did save your friends, but your powers are so subtle that no one could have ever guessed what really happened. That's another great thing about your power, you can be quite sneaky. You can use it without anyone even knowing it. I suppose we can begin, though I don't know where to start."

"I learned some new tricks last night."

"Please share."

Wither told Yarrow about his ability to nullify matter and explained that he could walk through walls and turn into a ghost. "Please show me this ghost form of yours," said Yarrow. Wither closed his eyes in concentration and turned see through as he had last night. "Fascinating, and you say this means that you currently do not exist?"

Wither nodded and said, "That's my explanation for it. I've turned myself into nothing and therefore, nothing can touch me."

Yarrow waved a paw through Wither and felt nothing, not even the slightest bit of resistance. "This is a very effective form of protection, Wither. I do believe you have rendered yourself invulnerable. It is just as you say; as long as you remain in this state no one can touch you."

Wither returned to his existent state and said, "That's really cool and all, but it's hard to stay like that. In fact, it's still a little challenging doing anything with nothing unless I empty my mind and allow myself to be as indifferent as possible first."

"Well, that's to be expected, Wither. I imagine your power, while unlike any other, has some similarities with the others that we dragons wield. You have only just discovered your element. Your control over it is going to need some work. That's why I'm here; to teach you how to use your power with ease. That way you don't have to focus so hard. Now let's practice control since that's what you're worried about most right now." For the rest of the day, Yarrow and Wither worked together so that Wither could learn to control his element without too much effort. The work was time consuming and progress was slow, for true mastery of an element was known to take years, even centuries of practice. They stopped for a quick lunch and continued on until the sun was below the horizon. Just as the last rays of light were sinking away, they quit for the day and Wither told Yarrow that he would come back tomorrow.

Wither shifted home and found that it was just a little bit easier than it had been that morning. He landed on his bed and walked out into the hallway. When he saw that no one was around to question his sudden appearance he went upstairs and checked in his parents' room, but they weren't there. He walked up the stairs that led to the roof and saw them siting and talking in the same spot as yesterday. With a big grin, he shifted and this time landed on his mom. "Gotcha!"

Cynder jumped and turned her head back to see her beaming son clinging to her back spines, but she wasn't smiling. Neither was Spyro when he turned around. "Hello, Wither. Did you have a good day with Yarrow?"

Wither stopped grinning and jumped down. "Yeah, today was fun. Uh . . . is something wrong?"

"No, we were just wondering when you left," replied Cynder.

"When I left?"

"Yes. We didn't see you leave and we've been home all day. We came up here about an hour ago to watch for you, but we didn't see you come home either," said Spyro with one raised eyebrow.

Wither's mind was racing. They were on to him, they knew something was up. He cursed himself for not being careful enough and quickly thought up a small fib. "I guess you weren't being very vigilant today. Ha, in your old age-"

"We're not old!" shouted Cynder with a smile.

"Yeah, just because we're your parents doesn't mean we're old. We still have about a thousand years ahead of us," added Spyro.

"Oh, come on. I was just kidding," said Wither. He hid the relief that welled up inside him when they forgot their suspicion and seemed to buy his playful jab at their powers of observation. He wasn't ready to reveal himself just yet. There was still more to learn, more to do. He told them he was tired and went to bed. When he entered his room, he immediately made his way to his cushions and nestled down into them. Sleep came in seconds due to his exhaustion from the day of hard work. When he woke up the next day, he ate a quick breakfast and told his parents he was off to Yarrow's again. This time he walked because he was afraid that constant shifting would cause his parents' suspicion return.

About halfway to Yarrow's house, Wither ran into Arragor and his gang. There were too many people in the street for them to do anything big, but on their way past him they made sure to bump into him extra hard. Obsidius actually knocked him down and they laughed as they walked away. Arragor called over his shoulder, "Watch your step, Wither." This made the others laugh even harder.

Wither walked back toward Arragor and when the gang saw this, they all grinned darkly and turned to face the little, grey dragon. Wither stopped in front of Arragor and placed a paw on his shoulder. Arragor gasped and fell to one knee as Wither ebbed some of the strength in his body away. The tiny dragon leaned closer to Arragor with an even more disturbing smile crossing his face and whispered so that only he could hear, "Thank you for your concern, Arragor. I didn't know you cared."

He released his grip on Arragor and went on toward Yarrow's house. Behind him he could hear Zar asking Arragor if he was okay. Arragor told him that he just needed something to eat, but he watched Wither walk away with loathing in his eyes and also a hint of . . . fear? _Did he really do that? No, it must have been another one of those strange attacks, a bout of sudden weakness._

When Wither reached Yarrow's house he got right down to business. He didn't bother telling Yarrow about the little incident that had occurred several minutes ago. Now that he was no longer defenseless it didn't seem to matter. He could take care of himself now without needing to go to adults with his bully problems. Finally, he could do something about Arragor. All he needed was a good excuse and he would make Arragor pay for everything, and knowing Arragor, Wither wouldn't have to wait long for such an excuse.

The day went much like the previous one had. Yarrow and Wither worked together on control, stopping only for quick rests and for lunch. When the sun was halfway below the horizon they agreed that during half of the day Yarrow would work with Renna, then she would be sent home early and they would work together until the end of class time. Yarrow reminded Wither that he would only keep his secret until Friday night and then he would tell Wither's parents. Wither walked home thinking that this was plenty of time to improve, plenty of time.

The sun was below the horizon by the time Wither reached his home. He looked up and saw two black dragon shaped silhouettes watching him from the roof. His parents met him in his hallway outside his bedroom and asked him how his day went. He told them that he spent the day with Yarrow, learning how to be a better dragon. When they pressed him for details, he gave a loud, fake yawn and told them he was tired and wouldn't know where to start. He could tell they weren't satisfied with his answer, but they let him go to bed and wished him a good night.

Wither truly was exhausted from all the hard work he had done the past few days. He lay down and curled up in his cushions, ready to sleep, but then he heard someone clear their throat. He looked up, thinking his dad came back to tell him something, but he was shocked to see Ignitus standing before him. A quick look around revealed that he was no longer in his room, but the strange library of the Chronicler. "What am I doing here?" asked Wither in surprise.

Ignitus idly stepped around the large hourglass filled with a mysterious blue substance that occupied the middle of the room. A book soared over to him and hovered before him as he walked around the room, tracing a clearly worn path that he paced around the hourglass. Wither read the title on the cover of the book, which read _The Oracular Compendium_. The book appeared new and fresh, though Ignitus said, "Ah, the wonders this book holds. You wouldn't know it from the look of the binding, but this book is over ten thousand years old, dating back to the time of the first generation of dragons and supposedly the beginning of creation. In this book, there are countless prophesies that speak of every major future event the Chroniclers have ever seen. Some of these events have already come to pass, others may have years until they are outdated, and a few are being fulfilled as we speak."

Wither watched as Ignitus scanned through the pages without another word. After several seconds, it appeared as though he had forgotten Wither was there. "You still haven't answered my question."

Ignitus peered over the top of the book from across the room and said, "Patience is a virtue, Wither, and virtues are something you'll need plenty of in the near future."

"Okay . . . so do I eventually get to know why you brought me here or were you just getting lonely?"

Ignitus closed the book with a sigh and said, "While it does get rather lonely in the Celestial Caves, I have other reasons for bringing you here."

"And those are . . .?"

"Patience isn't really your thing is it young dragon? Ah well, I should expect as much, your parents being who they are. Alright then, the reason why I brought you here is to give you a warning."

"What kind of warning?"

Ignitus let the book sail through the air and place itself on an empty spot on a shelf while he slowly made his way across the room. "As the Chronicler of this age, I am capable of seeing current and future events through my mind's eye as though I were actually there. You have never realized it, but there have been many times when my spirit has followed you through Warfang and watched you as you grew-"

"You've been watching me without me knowing about it? That's the creepiest thing anyone has ever told me."

"It comes with the job. I watch everyone. Now, before you interrupted me, I was going to tell you that-"

"What kinds of things do you watch?"

"Ugh, I allow people their privacy if that's what you're worried about, now close your mouth for a moment and let me speak."

"Sorry."

"Thank you. I have called you here to give you a warning. Do not let your anger control you. Don't forget yourself and remember to always do things for the right reason."

"Okay. Why are you telling me this?"

"I know what you're planning young dragon."

Wither shuffled around uncomfortably at these words. He tried to think of something to say, but Ignitus continued, "Don't even bother finishing the lie you're forming in your head. I can see it and the plan you have in there as well. Now wake up, it's time for school."

Wither blinked in confusion and was back in his room again. He felt like he had just lay down, yet he also felt rejuvenated as if he had gotten a full night of sleep. He looked out the window and saw the sunlight shining brightly outside. "I guess I got a full night of sleep after all."

Wither got up, went downstairs, ate a quick breakfast, said goodbye to his parents, and was on his way. As they had arranged the day before, Yarrow told Renna he would work with her, then halfway through the class he told her she could go home for the day. She looked confused, but thanked her teacher for the unexpected half day. She smiled at Wither, thinking they could spend the rest of the day together, but it disappeared when Yarrow told her that he was dedicating the rest of the class time to Wither. Renna narrowed her eyes at the two of them. She had become suspicious of Wither since that day he had vanished without a trace. He had been spending an unusual amount of time with Yarrow and she wanted to know why. "Can I stay and watch?"

"No," answered Wither a little too bluntly and far too quickly.

Now she knew something was up. Before she could ask why, Yarrow cut in and said, "My job as your teacher is to not only teach you how to use your element, but to also school you in dragon history, lore, legends and myths, cures for ailments, and of course dragon anatomy. Now I know this sounds silly, but when teachers are teaching their students about dragon anatomy we are supposed to teach boys and girls separately."

Renna blushed deeply at Yarrow's last words. "Oh," was her simple reply. All suspicion forgotten, she turned around and almost ran away.

"Wow, that was pretty good Yarrow, but maybe you shouldn't have lied to her."

"I never actually said I was going to teach you anatomy. That lesson isn't for a few more weeks."

They spent the rest of the day working on control and when class was over, Yarrow told Wither that he was improving. It was true; Wither was finding it a little bit easier to control the nothing. He was about to say his goodbye when he remembered his dream. He sat down and talked about it with his old friend. "Yarrow, I had another dream with the Chronicler again."

Yarrow perked up at this and leaned forward to hear Wither clearly before asking, "What did he say?"

Wither relayed the Chronicler's message to Yarrow, who listened intently and looked him over with great scrutiny. When Wither was finished Yarrow lay down and closed his eyes in thought. When he opened them, he looked at Wither with a critical gaze. "Thank you for telling me about your dream, Wither. I suggest you listen to the Chronicler and heed his warnings, follow his advice, and try not to forget anything he tells you. The Chronicler is a being of immeasurable wisdom and must not be ignored."

"Okay, I guess I'll go now."

Wither started to walk away, but before he could leave Yarrow said, "Please continue to tell me of these dreams if they keep coming to you. I would like to know what the Chronicler has to say to you."

"Alright, I will. Bye." Wither left the garden and walked through Yarrow's house. When he reached the door, he was surprised to find that Renna was waiting for him outside.

"Hey, what are you doing here? I thought you went home," said Wither with a look of mild shock on his face.

"I did, but I came back about a minute ago because I knew class was almost over. Now come on, we haven't done anything since last week."

Wither rubbed the back of his neck and gave Renna a sheepish grin. "Haha . . . uh . . . yeah. Yarrow and I have been hanging out for the past few days."

Renna narrowed her eyes and got in Wither's face causing him to fall back on his haunches. He got wide eyed when he realized they were nose to nose. "I know. You and Yarrow _have_ spent days together." Then she smiled and lightly bumped her nose against his before pulling her face back and saying, "But this afternoon belongs to us. You're not getting out of hanging out with me for the rest of the day."

"Okay, okay! I never said I didn't want to spend time with you and the others."

"Who said anything about the others?" asked Renna in a playful voice that made Wither's back spines prickle. "I thought we could spend today together . . . you know . . . just the . . . two of us." Renna got quiet as she finished her suggestion.

"Oh . . . okay." The two young dragons stood on Yarrow's doorstep staring at the ground, trying not to make eye contact when Yarrow poked his head out of his still open doorway and said, "Could it be sometime today? You're letting a draft in."

Wither and Renna jumped at his unexpected entrance into their conversation. "Yarrow! How long have you been standing there?" asked Wither nervously.

"It doesn't matter; I'm old, not stupid. Now go be young and awkward somewhere else please, you're still letting that draft in."

"It's the end of summer. How does keeping the door open make it cold in there?" Renna asked in confusion.

Yarrow sighed and replied, "As I said before, I'm old, and old people like it hot, so shoo, class is over." Yarrow winked at Wither and closed the door after nudging his pupils out of the doorway.

Wither and Renna turned to face each other and Wither asked, "So what do you want to do?"

"I thought we would just go for a walk around the city and talk. Does that sound alright to you?"

Wither smiled and replied, "That sounds great. Let's go this way."

They walked down the street together, not saying anything at first, but after a while Renna asked, "So how was the lesson?"

"Huh?"

"You know, the uh . . . anatomy lesson."

"Oh! Uh . . . it was . . . okay I guess."

"It wasn't too embarrassing was it?"

"Well, I wasn't really embarrassed with what we were talking about," Wither worded carefully. Wither always had a problem with lying. One, he didn't like doing it, and two, he wasn't very good at it, but since their topic was an embarrassing one, Renna mistook Wither's bad cover for what he was really doing with Yarrow for embarrassment.

"That's good. I hope it's not too bad when Yarrow talks about that kind of stuff with me. I'm afraid I'll have to have that lesson soon since Yarrow is starting to teach you about it."

Wither waved a paw at her and said a bit too casually, "Ah, I wouldn't worry about it too much." It was only right after he said it that he realized how that sounded.

"And why is that, Wither?" asked Renna, remembering her earlier suspicions.

Wither could hear that suspicion lacing her voice and lamely added, "Oh . . . uh . . . it just wasn't that bad . . . like I said."

"Hmm . . . Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something."

"What's that?" asked Wither, relieved that she bought it.

"Saturday, everyone came over to your house to ask you to spend the day with us. You declined so you could make your plans with Yarrow, which is okay, but something odd happened. As soon as we left your room, I turned back to tell you to have fun with Yarrow, but when I came back, I was surprised to find that you were already gone." Wither became noticeably nervous upon hearing this, but Renna continued without telling him how guilty he looked. "Your house is really big, Wither. I had only gone a little ways before I turned back around. If you had have gone anywhere I would have seen you going down your hallway. Even if you ran you couldn't have gone anywhere without me seeing you, yet you were nowhere to be found. I'm sure there's a logical explanation. It's just been on my mind ever since it happened. It's like a little obsession. I just want to figure out how I missed you so I can stop thinking about it."

Wither didn't know what to say. He had to lie, somehow work his way around the issue with one of his famous half-truths, or tell the truth. He chose door number two. "That is weird. Huh, I guess you must have _just_ missed me by a split second."

"Where did you go?"

"Well, there is a room right across the hall from mine you know."

"Oh, I guess I didn't see you in there, and I guess you didn't hear me call out for you."

"Sorry. I really didn't hear you."

"That's okay. I'm just glad I figured out where you went." Renna knew Wither wasn't being completely truthful, but she also knew that if he was keeping something a secret, she would have to take a more indirect approach to pry it out of him. She pretended that she was no longer interested in Wither's mysterious disappearance in an attempt to lower his defenses. This would give him time to get comfortable, then she would strike when he was least expecting it. She started by changing the subject. "So Yarrow and you have always been good friends, huh?"

"Yeah, ever since I was little he has always been like a grandpa to me. We've spent lots of time together. Before the Great Awakening, he was my only friend."

"Wow, it sounds like you two share a special bond. I bet you were ecstatic when you found out he was going to be your teacher."

"Yeah, that and- well, yeah."

"What?"

"What?"

"You were about to say something else."

"I was?"

"You were."

"Well, I don't remember-"

Renna cut him off and said in a commanding voice, "Oh no. You're not telling me you forgot. Now you tell me what you were going to say, Wither."

"Uh . . ."

"Come on, out with it."

"I was just going to say that I _was_ ecstatic to find out Yarrow was going to be my teacher and that . . ."

"Yes?"

"Well, you were the first real friend I ever made when I finally got out of the house, and when I heard that it was just going to be the three of us, I thought that it couldn't have been arranged any better." This was the answer that Renna had been hunting for. She knew what Wither was going to say, but for some reason she wanted to hear him say it.

"You know what, Wither? I'm glad it's just the three of us, too. It's so peaceful out there in Yarrow's garden. He must use his powers to keep it so alive."

"Actually, not many people know this, but Yarrow and his garden are one with each other. You see, he uses his powers to nourish the plants so that they can thrive and grow in ways that plants can't normally grow. In return, he takes the excess energy from the plants in his garden and uses it to lengthen his life. That way, Yarrow and his garden are almost immortal, but he has told me before that no one is immortal. Eventually, all must die; otherwise the balance of nature would be thrown off."

"That's amazing! I wonder how old he is."

"I don't know. Every time I ask him, he says something different. One time he said, 'Older than you.' Another time he said, 'Old enough,' though he wouldn't tell me what he was old enough for. Let's see, he's said, 'Too old, older than time, older than dirt, old like you wouldn't believe,' and even, 'Old enough to be Father Time's son.' Once, I thought I got a straight answer from him, because he said that he was over five thousand years old, but when I asked, 'Really?' he said, 'No.'"

This exchange made Renna laugh. Wither loved the sound of her laughter. The melodious sound echoed in his ears and traveled through his body, eliciting chills down his spine and sparking a tingling feeling in his brain and a fluttering in his stomach. He couldn't help but laugh along with her. They walked through the streets of Warfang talking to each other peacefully for several hours. They were so busy talking that they didn't notice it was getting dark. Most everyone had gone inside by the time they noticed how late it was. "Wow, are those stars?" asked Renna. "We should really be getting home, don't you think?"

Wither looked up at the first stars to appear in the sky and nodded in agreement with Renna. "Where do you live? I'll walk you home."

"Actually, I don't live too far from Yarrow's house. My place is about a minute away if you walk." That was about ten minutes away, so they started heading that way. It was quiet in the streets and shadows were starting to gather in the corners and up against the walls like thieves stealing away the daylight. At one point, Wither thought he heard someone whispering behind them. He turned around to see who he thought was one of his new fans, but there was no one there. He didn't like all the attention everyone was giving him now. It made him feel like what he did that day when Renna went supernova mattered to people more than he did as a person. He wasn't special until he saved the city from certain destruction. Even now, the way people treated him wasn't all that different. Before, he would walk down the street and people would point at him and whisper, and now when he walked down the street, people pointed at him and whispered. It was like everyone thought he was some kind of freak to stare at and talk about.

Wither and Renna rounded a corner and walked halfway to the next corner when Arragor and Zar turned the corner and blocked their way forward. They both had terrible looks in their eyes, but nothing could compare with the look in Arragor's eyes. He had anger in them for Wither, hunger for Renna, jealousy for seeing them together, and malicious excitement for meeting them alone. "Come on, let's go this way," said Wither, turning around, but when they turned around Obsidius and Xath turned the corner from where they had just come and blocked their only means of escape. They were boxed in and out numbered two to one.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" drawled Arragor. "Now I know that I've told you _more_ than once to stay away from her, Wither. There's no one out here to save you this time. It's just the little girl, you, who can't do anything, and the four of us. Finally, it looks like you'll get what you deserve. As for you, Renna, I forgive you for nearly burning me alive. I made a quick recovery and I'm ready to _show_ you just how forgiving I can be."

"No!" whispered Renna in fear.

"Yes," whispered Arragor in what was definitely not fear.

"What are we going to do!" asked Renna in desperation. "There's too many of them!"

"Use your light. They can't match your strength," hissed Wither.

"I can't," said Renna in despair as she hung her head in shame.

"What? Why not?"

"What if I accidentally overdo it again? I don't want to hurt anyone anymore. First, it was Omba, then I nearly killed Arragor along with the rest of Warfang."

"If you don't do something, they're going to hurt us!"

"I'm sorry," squeaked Renna as she began to sob into her paws.

Wither looked up to see their assailants closing in on them, slowly shrinking the distance between them at their leisure. Thinking fast, he grabbed Renna's face with both paws and turned her to face him. Her eyes were full of fear. The dread they conveyed to him was almost too much for him to bear. He wanted to wipe away the tears streaming down her face, but there was simply no time. As he began to speak to her, the look of a frightened, cornered animal left her eyes and was slowly replaced by hope. He spoke with confidence and clarity trying his best to let her know that he was in control of the situation. "Listen to me. I'm going to get you out of here. Just follow my lead. Now, come on, this way!" shouted Wither. He rushed toward Obsidius and Xath with Renna following close behind.

Renna didn't want to just run right into them. They would surely catch them as they tried to pass them. "Wither!"

"Don't worry, Renna! I won't let them get you!" Obsidius and Xath grinned and braced themselves to meet them, but as Wither got closer, he focused on them. Their eyes drooped and they swayed on the spot. They tried to fight their sudden wave of exhaustion, but they tipped too far, lost their balance, and fell over on their sides. Wither jumped over them and Renna followed his lead.

As she made her way toward them she gasped when they fell and whispered to herself, "What?" She turned to look at Wither and saw that he had a strange look in his eyes as he leaped over their mysteriously felled enemies.

They dashed down the street and around the corner. Neither of them took the time to watch their backs to see if they were being followed. They just ran as fast as they could, swerving around corners trying to lose their pursuers. After several minutes, they finally turned a corner and staggered to a halt in an alley and stopped to catch their breath. Through their panting, they listened to see if they could hear anything. After a few seconds, they heard running footsteps and they took off down the long alley. They had almost reached a corner where they could turn left when they heard Xath shout, "Hey! They're over here!"

Wither and Renna turned the corner and were dismayed to find that they were trapped between their foes and a dead end. Wither only had to think for a second. There was only one way out. "Quick! Grab my paw!"

"What?"

"Just trust me!"

Renna clutched Wither's paw and he told her, "Now when I say jump, I want you to jump forward with me. Please just trust me on this. Ready, set, jump!" They lunged toward the wall and disappeared. Not two seconds later, all four of their pursuers raced around the corner and stopped. They stared at the wall and Arragor pounded a fist on the ground shouting, "Where did they go!"

They landed in front of Yarrow's house. Renna looked around with wide eyes. She was still out of breath and her heart was beating so fast it felt like it was about to pop out of her chest. "What? Whe-where are we? Is this Yarrow's house?" she asked in confusion. She looked at Wither who had his head down. "Wither?"

He looked up and faced her. She stared at him in wonder. "How did you do that, Wither?"

"I guess I can't hide it from you anymore. I found my power a few days ago. That's why Yarrow and I have been hanging out together lately, it's why you really missed me Saturday morning, and it's why Yarrow sent you home early today. I told him I wanted to keep it a secret. Right now you and Yarrow are the only ones who know, but I don't want anyone else figuring it out yet so you have to promise you'll never tell anyone okay?"

"Okay, I promise, but Wither, this is wonderful! You've finally found your power! What is it?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Aw, come on. Tell me."

"No really. It's literally nothing. I'll explain tomorrow. Go home, you'll be safe there." Wither jumped forward and disappeared right before Renna's eyes. Her jaw dropped in pure amazement, and then she shook her head and ran home.

Wither shifted to his front door and went inside. His parents were waiting for him in the low section in the middle of the room. They got up and walked up the steps to meet him at the front door. "And where have you been?" asked Spyro in a stern voice that would have made Wither tremble in fear a week ago.

"I spent the day with Renna after school."

"It's late. You should be in bed."

"I know this is going to sound like a distraction, but we got chased through the streets by Arragor and his cronies who tried to kill me and I suspect tried to do _something_ to Renna if you know what I mean. We barely escaped, but now I'm tired and I really want to go to bed. Please scold me in the morning."

"They tried to beat you up again? And are you sure about that second accusation?" asked Cynder.

"Pretty much. Sorry about letting the time get away from us, _believe_ me, it won't happen again. Not after what happened tonight. Goodnight."

As Wither climbed the steps he heard his parents talking about speaking with Spire the Fire Master, who was Arragor's father, tomorrow. They started talking about having a chat with all of the parents of the deviant children that plagued the streets of Warfang. Wither climbed in bed and lay there wide awake. He couldn't fall asleep because his mind kept going back to the events that took place that night. They played out in his head over and over again until he finally fell asleep sometime around midnight.

The next day started out normal, but class brought a grinding halt to normality. Renna was waiting on the pavilion in Yarrow's garden with their teacher when Wither got there. "Renna has already told me what happened last night. Very nice work young dragon, but now you must explain yourself to her. She won't let class begin until you do."

Wither then proceeded to explain everything to Renna, from his dream with the Chronicler, to the strange anti-power he discovered he had control over several nights ago. He even explained how he had used his power to help her and Vera during the competition unbeknownst to the hundreds of spectators that witnessed the bouts. He described every aspect and application of his power that he knew how to use so far. When he was finished, she stared at him in wonder the same way she had the night before. Like Yarrow had when he found out, she simply said, "Show me."

Wither was more than happy to oblige. He started off by making the black clouds of nothing and used them to suck up a decorative rock in Yarrow's garden, then he had the clouds spit it back. Then he turned transparent and walked through her. She gasped as he passed right through her without any resistance. He then turned opaque again and pulled his black crystal out of a cloud that formed beside him. She gasped again, but this time it was due to her close proximity to the energy draining crystal. He quickly put it away, then breathed nothing toward Renna, which drained her of the rest of her magic. Once this was done, he jumped and shifted around the pavilion several times. After all that, he finished up by floating up into the air by imagining the gravity around him was nothing. "Ooo, that's a new one," said Yarrow in a pleased tone.

"This is amazing! I can't believe you finally found your power . . . or not-power or whatever it is, but it sounds like you're a really powerful dragon, Wither! Your problems are over!"

"Yes, and now I can teach you both together like I always imagined. Now pay attention. Today I'm going to teach you both about control because it's important and it's what Wither and I have really been working on for the past few days." Yarrow worked them hard and by the time class was over, both of them were ready to go home and just relax.

However, Wither had no such luck. When he got home, Arragor and his friends were there under the watchful eyes of his parents. When he saw them, he crouched down in an attack position, bearing his fangs and actually letting out a growl for the first time his parents could remember. "What are _you_ doing here?"

Spyro got up and stepped between them. "They have come at the request of your mother and me. We have told their parents what you said last night. They know about the charges placed against them. If what you said is true, then they will be in a great deal of trouble. You can either forgive them here and now or you can send them before the Council of Elders for a trial. If they go to trial and are found guilty, they will be escorted everywhere they go for a month and they will have to do a little work for the city on the weekends."

Wither looked away in thought for a moment. It would be nice to have them punished for their acts of cruelty, but for Arragor to be followed and watched everywhere he went for a month was not in Wither's plans. Turning his gaze toward the unwelcome guests he said, "I forgive you all. Just get out of my house."

"What? Are you sure, Wither?" asked Cynder in surprise.

"Yes, I'm absolutely sure. Just make them leave."

"Looks like you're free to go. My son has a generous soul. You could take lessons from him," said Spyro.

Exchanging confused and unbelieving looks, the four youths got up to leave. Xath, Zar, and Obsidius walked past Wither and left. However, Arragor walked up to Wither and asked, "Why?" Wither swept past him and made his way to the stairs, completely ignoring the confused fire dragon in his living room. "Hey! Why'd you let us go?"

Wither stopped at the base of his stairs and turned around to face Arragor from across the room. His parents were watching him, too, curious as to why he let them off scot-free. "Because the terms of your punishment weren't severe enough for my taste. If you ever, _ever_ go near Renna again, I will make it my divine purpose to make you rue the day you were born. Every day in your life will become the new definition of hell and all will gawk at you in awe as you walk by, because the mark I will leave on you will be a constant reminder of the terrible crimes you have committed to earn it."

All stood in silence for a moment as the power of Wither's rant sunk in. After the initial shock of his threat, Arragor asked, "What makes you so confident? You're not really in any position to make threats like that."

"It's not a threat, it's a promise." With this final comment, Wither turned around and made his way up the stairs and out of sight. He stopped at the top of the stairs, just out of sight and waited.

After a few seconds he heard his dad say, "Well, you're not welcome here. Get out."

Arragor's quick footsteps could be heard running out the door. After he was gone, Wither came back down the stairs and said, "I hate that dragon so much."

"Well Wither, if they bother you again just remember you could have prevented it," said Spyro in what sounded like a slightly disappointed tone.

"I think what you did was a very noble gesture," added Cynder with pride emanating from her voice.

"And I think Arragor will come to wish I had decided differently, but enough about that. I'm tired and hungry, can we eat?"

Spyro and Cynder were itching to ask Wither why he was suddenly becoming so confident, but they gave him his space, seeing as he was angrier than they had ever seen him. A quick glance between them sent the silent message that they would talk about it alone and confront him about it later. Their son was starting to act differently and he had become more withdrawn than normal in the past few days. It wasn't uncommon for Wither to watch the city from their roof for hours on end and he was also known to spend a considerable amount of time with Yarrow, but the extent to which he partook in these activities was excessive even for him lately. He never spent time with them anymore and he never wanted to say more than a few words to them before running off or retiring to his room for the night. Ever since he had absorbed that supernova, it was like he had become a different person and they intended to find out why.

After a quiet meal in the low circular area in the front room, Wither climbed the stairs to the roof and watched the city like he did in the old days. After a while he decided to go to bed early because he was tired from the day of hard work in class. He walked toward his bed, but fell down halfway across the room. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.

"Do you know why I have called you here?"

"Why? Don't you?"

"No need for the hostility."

"No need for hostility? You couldn't even wait until I was actually asleep! I better not have any bruises on my face, Ignitus."

"Well, the matter I need to discuss with you is an urgent one. Listen to me, Wither. I know what you're planning. Revenge is not a noble act, and it often comes back to bite the avenger. I cannot change the future as it is written, but I feel that it is my duty to tell you this anyway. You are the key to a door that was closed years ago. It shouldn't be opened, but in your own indirect way you will open that door and unleash the ancient monstrosities that have slept behind it since the beginning of time. Prepare yourself; a new age is upon us. You will be the one to unleash the evil, and for that you must be the one to set things right."

When Wither woke up, he was still lying on the floor. The words of the Chronicler still rang in his ears. It was morning, so he ate and ran to Yarrow's house to relay the message of doom, but left out the part about revenge. That was a secret that wouldn't be revealed until later. Yarrow and Renna listened to the message and looked at each other when Wither was done.

"What does it mean, Yarrow?" asked Renna.

"I don't know, but I do know this. The Chronicler only appears to people when dark times lie ahead. The last time the Chronicler revealed himself, it was before the second coming of the Dark Master. Wither, I thought the first dream was just Ignitus' way of helping you find your power as one last favor for your father, but your second dream made me realize that he contacted you in the first place with something else in mind. Clearly, you're going to need the use of your element sometime in the near future. It sounds like you are part of some sort of prophesy. I really should bring this news before the council, but I don't wish to break my promise to keep your secret until the end of the week. Please, for the sake of Warfang and all of her citizens, for the sake of dragon kind, let me tell the council about your dreams."

"No. It's Wednesday. Your promise is up two days from now. I don't think two days is going to make too much of a difference."

"Alright, but as soon as class is over on Friday, I'm assembling the council."

"So long as it's not until then."

"Why does it matter so much anyway?" asked Renna.

"I have my reasons," said Wither, staring off into space.

That day they continued to work on their control. By now Wither was finding that he could control his power with more ease than ever before, but as Yarrow told him, he still had a long way to go. When class was over, Renna asked Wither if he wanted to do anything, but he told her that he was too tired and just wanted to go home again. Sleep consumed him as soon as he was on his cushions. Spyro and Cynder came down from the roof to meet him and talk to him about his strange behavior, but were surprised to find that he was already asleep. Cynder leaned toward Spyro and whispered, "Is it just me, or has he been sleeping more than normal lately?"

"I know. All he does is eat, sleep, and go to class. Yarrow can't be working him that hard. Let's just talk to him when he wakes up from his nap."

"Hello child."

"Is this going to be a regular thing now?"

"What? You're not happy to see me?"

"It's not that . . . it's just . . . well, at least you waited until I was in bed this time. So why am I here again?"

"I am here to inform you that tomorrow is going to be a big day for you. You will plant the seed of destruction, and it will grow and spread throughout the land. Life is all about balance young dragon, remember that. You will represent the forces of good for you already have a hold on half the power, but the other half is for the forces of evil."

"Oooookay."

"Hmm, you'll see what I mean soon enough. Tonight I must inform your friends of the situation that is steadily approaching. This involves them as much as it does you."

Suddenly, all of Wither's friends materialized around him. "What's going on? Where are we?" asked Psy in confusion.

"Listen to me young dragons. There is war on the horizon. This war has been written in the ancient book of prophesies since the beginning of time. You will be the protectors of the world and its inhabitants. With Wither as your leader you will unite to oppose them."

"What? Us? Oppose who? Who are them?" questioned Elleca.

The Chronicler spread his wings and they woke up to the new day. Wither jolted out of his cushions with a feeling of great concern gathering in his heart. The Chronicler's warnings were becoming more ominous and frequent. Something was happening, though he couldn't say what. He ran downstairs and out the door, shouting goodbye to his parents before they could stop him. When he got to Yarrow's house, all of his friends were waiting for him outside. "What are you doing here? You're all going to be late for class," said Wither.

"Wither, that was really us. Last night we all had the same dream," said Renna. They all looked tired and scared. They were all staring at Wither like he was an elder, instinctively feeling that he would know what to say.

"What's going on, Wither? Have you any idea?" asked Sora in her quiet voice.

"Just go to class, we can talk later," said Wither. He was starting to get a nervous feeling in his stomach. This was getting serious. Every one of his friends had the dream this time. Maybe he should let Yarrow speak with the council after all.

Renna and Wither told Yarrow about the dream and everyone who had it. "Yarrow, maybe you _should_ talk to the council today," said Wither in an anxious voice.

Without any further prompting, Yarrow got up and said, "I'm canceling all classes for today."

He sat in the middle of the pavilion and spread his wings. His eyes began to glow and his multicolored body sparkled in a brilliant array. The garden came to life and all the plants seemed to lean in toward Yarrow as he connected with the life force of the plants and formed a massive network throughout the entire city, his mind latching on to every shrub, tree, blade of grass, insect, and citizen of the city to telepathically broadcast his message to everyone within the confines of Warfang's walls. "_All classes are canceled for today. My fellow elders, meet me in the Council Chamber for an emergency meeting_."

The city instantly fell silent, and an eerie feeling spread through the air, giving many people a chill. Yarrow stood and told them that they may go. He left them standing there on the pavilion. "Come on. Let's go to the plaza," said Wither.

"Why?"

"I want to know what the elders have to say once the meeting's over. I'm sure they'll address the crowd that will no doubt be there to flood them with questions as soon as they're done talking."

They left Yarrow's house and headed toward the heart of the city where all the dragons were gathering. The Council Chamber was a grand building that bordered the northern edge of the plaza. Everyone was waiting to see what was going on. Children and adults were coming from all over the city to see what the elders would say when they came out to address the people after their meeting. All of the adults crowded around the steps leading up to the Council Chamber busying themselves by talking together about what might be going on while the children gathered in a tight circle in the heart of the plaza to talk to each other.

When Renna and Wither got there, all of their friends joined them. "Alright Wither, what's all this about?" demanded Tera.

"Yeah, tell us what's going on," added Vera. All the children around them grew silent at these words, waiting for an explanation.

"It's about the dreams I've been having," he whispered, trying not to let anyone hear.

Suddenly, flames burst between Wither and Renna. They spread out, surprising Wither and forcing him to retreat to a safe distance. When they died down, Arragor was holding Renna down and his friends were guarding him on all sides to prevent anyone from getting to him easily. "Looks like I caught you fair and square. You're mine now."

"Let her go, Arragor."

"Or what! What are you going to do you pathetic loser!"

Everyone was watching. The circle of children tightened around the three young dragons, enclosing them in a living arena and blocking them from the view of the parents. Wither took a deep breath and let out a long, slow sigh. He cleared his mind of all thought and emotion and let complete and utter indifference fill him up. His eyes became lazy like he was tired and his voice became monotonous. "Back up," he told his friends. They did what he said without question.

"Arragor, you may have excellent control over fire and your dad may be the Fire Master. You may have great strength and even better elemental skills, but you are nothing. You are a bully. All you do is pick on those who are weaker than you and use your so called 'friends' to help you do it. You think you can do it just because you can, but I'm here to tell you that you can't do whatever you want. You're a fool and you're a loser, but most of all . . . you're just nothing. Face it, no one likes you. Look around you. Do you think you've ever given anyone in this crowd a reason to like you?"

Arragor's face was puffed up and shaking in fury. No one had even spoken to him like that before. "You little . . . I'll . . . I'll . . ."

"You'll what? What will you do? I hope it involves letting Renna go." She tried to get up, but Arragor held her in place. The children around them watched the exchange with unwavering gazes.

Arragor's nostrils flared; smoke billowing out of them like tiny volcanoes about to blow. "That's it! You're going to pay! No one talks to me like that and gets away with it!" Arragor inhaled deeply and let loose a great fireball. It exploded out of his mouth and raged toward Wither like a missile. Wither stood calmly in place and faced it without fear. Everyone watched in shock and awe as it closed in on him. Then, just as it was about to incinerate him, a black, cloudy wall formed between Wither and the blazing inferno. The fireball flew right at the wall and disappeared into it, but failed to pass through the other side. Soon after, the wall shank away into nothing too. Wither sat there, staring at Arragor, unscathed.

Arragor backed up a step in shock and Renna was able to escape as his grip on her loosened. "How did you do that?" asked Arragor in fury.

"Oh, it was nothing." Wither stood and advanced on Arragor slowly. Arragor shot another gout of flame at Wither, which was sucked up in another black cloud. Everyone in the circle watched in renewed awe as Wither thwarted all of Arragor's attempts to turn him into a pile of ashes without even lifting so much as a claw.

Wither stopped and said, "You have tormented us without mercy and without end, but no more. You have always singled me out because you thought I was weak, because you thought I had no power. Now I'm going to give you a taste of what it feels like."

Wither then jumped toward Arragor, who was still a good twenty feet away. Wither disappeared in midair, and as he did so, he reappeared behind Arragor. He pounced on him and Arragor fell under Wither's power as his strength drained out of him, making him too weak to shove the tiny dragon off. Wither got off of him and placed a paw on Arragor's forehead as he struggled to a standing position on shaky limbs. His legs suddenly locked in place and his entire body went rigid at the contact as if his own frame was forcing him to offer himself up to the suddenly very frightening grey dragon. "What are you doing?"

"You will become that which you terrorized." Arragor began to scream in agony, but he couldn't move. It felt like a part of his very soul was being ripped out of his body.

It was at this moment that the elders came out of the Council Chamber. Spire saw the battle taking place over the heads of the crowd of children from the top of the stairs leading to the entrance of the meeting place. "Stop! What are you doing!"

The crowd of children parted and the event came into view. For the first time, the large crowd of parents noticed the brawl that was taking place just a few yards away. Spyro and Cynder watched their son in fascinated horror as he made his next move before anyone got over their shock and tried to stop him. Fire erupted from Arragor's body, covering him from head to tail. For a moment it looked as though he was burning alive in his own elemental fire, but then an invisible force tugged at the flames and drew them into Wither's paw. The fire slowly receded from the tip of Arragor's tail. When it reached the base of his tail it continued to drain away from the tips of his wings, the edges of his claws, and up his torso. As the flames were drawn away from Arragor, they covered Wither's body, starting with his paw and working their way up his limb, covering his neck and consuming his head, licking down his torso and flaring out to the edges of his wings. They filled the rest of his limbs and slowly engulfed his tail as the last of the fire licked around the edges of Wither's paw before being consumed as well and completely filling Wither's entire form with Arragor's fire. The fire raged around Wither's body for a brief moment before sinking down into his scales and dying out. Arragor was shivering in fear and pain, but the nightmare was far from over. Black nothingness suddenly billowed out of Wither's body and began to pour over Arragor's head and repeat the process in reverse order. When his entire body was engulfed in the writhing mass of black, cloudy nothingness, the clouds expanded outward a few inches, then sunk into his body and disappeared. Arragor was now the same color as Wither. He had no distinct features about him anymore and his scales had lost their luster.

When he got up, he shivered and looked at Wither with pure loathing. "So you've been holding out on me, eh? Well, that hurt, but now you're going to get it." Arragor swiped at Wither, but his paw went right through him. "What? What is this?"

"You can't hit what doesn't exist," replied an oddly see-through Wither.

"I don't understand," said Arragor with a wavering voice.

"My element is nothing. I don't have any power and that is my gift."

Arragor inhaled deeply and breathed out heavily, but nothing happened. "What? My fire! Where's my fire!"

"You misused your gift of fire to bully those weaker than you. I have taken it upon myself to remove your fire and replace it with nothing so that it will never grow back no matter how many green crystals you try to absorb. This is your punishment, Arragor. I curse you! May you be powerless for the rest of your life!"

"No . . . NO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!" Arragor turned and ran away. The crowd parted for him as he ran away in shame.

Spire charged toward Wither, shouting, "What did you do to my son!"

Wither saw the large Fire Master approaching him and threw up his wings shouting, "Stay back!"

Spire slowed down and stumbled before falling to the ground unconscious. Everyone started whispering furiously to one another. No one had ever attacked an elder, ever. Wither brought down the Fire Master, Wither did! He was only a young student and he defeated one of the strongest dragons in the city.

"Wither, come here," said Yarrow in a calm voice.

Wither shifted to Yarrow's side. "He was coming at me, I had to defend myself-"

"You're not in trouble, Wither. Spire acted in haste and anger. You are not responsible for attacking him, but I need to ask you several questions. First of all, can you return Arragor's power back to him?"

"I'm not going to-"

"_Could_ you do it?"

"Yes, I suppose."

"Will you?"

"I don't want to."

"And there's nothing anyone can do to change your mind?"

"Not likely. I want Arragor to know what it's like to be the different one for a change. I wasn't helpless, I just didn't know what I could do, but now he truly is helpless, just like he thought I was. I took out his spark of power and placed nothing in him. He is no longer a dragon, for you said yourself that all dragons have an element, no exceptions. Since Arragor no longer has an element he is no longer one of us. Perhaps some humility and a little empathy will change his attitude. If that's the case, then I _might_ change him back."

"Please, you have to return him to normal!" shouted Xath.

Wither rounded on Arragor's friends and stared down toward the watchful crowd, shouting with an authority he had never demonstrated before. "Silence! If you trouble me or my friends ever again I'll drain you next!" Wither was a powerful dragon and he knew it. No other dragon had ever done what he did, and everyone feared him for it.

"Wither . . ." Wither turned to looked at his parents. They were staring at him with a mix of emotions. Cynder continued, "Wither, we're proud of you for finding your element, strange as it is, but why didn't you tell us?"

"Because I knew this day was coming. I knew that if I kept my power a secret I could take Arragor by surprise and give him his just desserts."

"Well, you know, that's really Yarrow's job. He's the one who's supposed to decide the punishment of the guilty. You stole his place as judge."

"I'm sorry I kept my power a secret from you and I'm sorry I did your job, Yarrow, but I'm not sorry for what I did to Arragor. Maybe now he'll know what it was like to be me."

"Yes, I think that is a fair enough punishment," said Yarrow. "But maybe what you did doesn't have to be permanent."

"I'll think about it."

"You do that. I was going to bring you and your friends into the Council Chamber to answer a few questions about your dreams, but I think everyone has had more than enough excitement for one day. Everyone should go home and be with family, relax, and talk. It's going to take everyone awhile to get what they just saw out of their systems. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go revive Spire. I'll see you in the Council Chamber tomorrow."

Everyone in the crowd dispersed and went home. Wither started walking between his parents. Before they left the plaza, Renna ran up to Wither and said, "Thanks for saving me again, Wither." She nuzzled his cheek for a moment and dashed away.

He heard his mom chuckle at this. He looked up and both of his parents were smiling down at him. "Come on, son. Let's go home," said Spyro.

"If you want, I know a shortcut."

"That does sound like fun. So you can take us with you?"

"Yeah! Here." Wither climbed up on his dad's back and told him to grab his mom's paw.

Spyro took Cynder's paw with a grin. "Yeah, Cynder. Take my paw."

"If I must," she said with a slight smile and a fake eye roll.

"Alright, when I say jump, I want you to jump forward like you're pouncing on something. Ready, set, jump!"

They jumped forward and landed in the lowered section of the floor in their living room. "That's amazing!" exclaimed Spyro.

"Certainly quite useful," added Cynder.

"So tell us about this power of yours, Wither," said Spyro, leaning down in excitement.

Wither spent the next several hours both showing and explaining all that he knew about his element. They asked him questions here and there, but mostly they just let him talk and display his power to them in every way he knew how. Once he was finished, he began to explain his dreams.

"There's no need to explain about that," said Spyro.

"Yarrow explained everything you told him about your dreams to the whole council. You can answer everyone's questions tomorrow," added Cynder.

Wither nodded to show that he understood. "Listen, Wither," said Spyro. "We may not agree with what you did to Arragor, and it might have been better if you hadn't knocked Spire unconscious, but we're still very proud of you. We knew you had greatness in you. You just had to look a little deeper than most dragons to find it. I still can't believe how powerful you are. You completely drained Arragor's powers away and then dropped an elder immediately afterward. That takes a considerable amount of force. From what I understand about your power based on what Yarrow said about it and everything you've just shown us, you truly are a force to behold."

"Maybe I can even take on the mighty Purple Dragon of legends."

Both of his parents laughed at this and Spyro said, "I don't know about that."

"Yeah, remember I watched your father put an entire planet back together, no small feat by any standards," said Cynder.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Well, I guess I should go to bed now. It's getting kind of late."

"Goodnight, Wither."

"Goodnight mom."

"Goodnight son"

"Goodnight dad."

Wither shifted to his room and lay down on his bed. He burrowed deep into his cushions and left a little hole so he could breathe. He fell asleep in an instant and found himself standing before the Chronicler once again.

"Hello, Wither. That was quite a performance today. Every dragon in Warfang is talking about what you did."

"Arragor had to be stopped. I couldn't let him continue to hurt me or my friends."

"I agree with you."

"You do?"

"Yes, Arragor was wrong for the things he did and his punishment was exceptionally fitting. However, the seed has been planted and now darkness will descend on the land. The twilight of peace has begun. Enjoy the last few hours of it with your friends and family. Afterward, you must face your destiny and all must fight to defend what is rightfully theirs. Now wake up, Wither. Wake up and enjoy life to the fullest while you still can."


	11. Chapter 10 Reborn

Chapter 10- Reborn

The Chronicler's words haunted Wither as he climbed the stone steps up to the roof. He couldn't stop thinking about what he said. The way he was talking, it was like the world was about to end, but as Wither watched the sunrise, he felt that all was right with the world. Everything seemed so peaceful in the golden light that was seeping over the horizon. Questions filled his mind. What was happening? Where would the danger come from? How should everyone prepare when they didn't even know what was going on? What would the council ask him today? What would Spire say? Most of all, Wither had to wonder one thing above all else. How was it his fault and what would he have to do to fix it?

As these thoughts assailed Wither, his parents came up the stairs and told him to eat. After a quick meal, they told him that it was time for him to go before the council. Both of his parents escorted him there since their presence was also mandatory. He walked down the street between them, and as they made their way through the city, they noticed everyone's gaze falling on Wither. He could feel the stares of every citizen they passed on their way to the Council Chamber. There were no longer any whispers to accompany the watchful eyes of the dragons around him. Now it felt like a blanket of silence followed him wherever he went. He didn't know which was worse. The whispers were always unsettling, but the silence was even more so.

They eventually worked their way to the plaza and up the steps to the Council Chamber. They went inside and walked down the exquisite marble hallway to another doorway, which led to a waiting room where all of Wither's friends were already sitting, talking to each other. Everyone fell silent when Wither entered the room. He almost flinched when they met him this way. Were they as uncomfortable around him as everyone else? Wither's parents had warned him that as a result of taking down an elder at such a young age, everyone would fear him. That fear was also amplified by the fact that as of yet, no one really understood his power and, therefore, made him seem much more threatening than he actually was. Everyone was intimidated by the unknown, which had already demonstrated a potential cause for concern. After all, not only had his initial display with Arragor stunned the entire population of Warfang, but the fact that no one could actually _see_ what Wither had done to bring down Spire made him seem like an unstoppable force of nature. How could you fight against something when it wasn't tangible? There was no hope for anyone that may incite Wither's wrath. However, despite all of this, Wither didn't think the populace's fear of him would include his friends.

"We have to take our places in the Council Chamber. Wait here until Yarrow comes for you," said Spyro. He and Cynder then climbed a set of stairs off to the left and went through a passage on the upper level.

When they were gone, Elleca walked up to Wither and asked in a surprisingly frightened sounding voice, "What's going on, Wither? Our parents had to take us here. They said we're going to be questioned by the elders."

At least Elleca wasn't afraid to talk to him. She was just nervous about going before the Council of Elders. "The elders just want to know about the dreams I've been having, and since we all had one together, this includes you," said Wither in a perfectly calm voice.

"How can you be so cool about this?" asked Vera.

"Aren't you even a little scared?" asked Tera.

"Nah. I've spent entire life around the elders. I know all of them personally, and quite frankly, after what happened yesterday, I don't think I have a good enough reason to be scared of them." This got a few smiles from his friends and made him much more comfortable in their presence. "So are we still friends or did my actions yesterday make me a freak to be shunned by all?"

Renna stepped forward and said, "As I said yesterday, thank you for saving me, Wither. You're a true friend." Wither gave a sigh of relief. It was good to know that they were still friends.

"So are you going to tell us about your element or what?" asked Psy in a mildly impatient tone.

Wither was about to explain, but just as he opened his mouth to do so, the door next to him opened to reveal Yarrow who said, "Wither, please enter the Council Chamber."

Everyone silently wished Wither luck as he followed Yarrow into the Council Chamber. It was a vast room that was mostly a lower floor that the elders looked down on from the upper level. The seats were arranged in a circle around the lower floor so that the elders could intimidate those they spoke to by making them feel surrounded. The fact that the seats were also high up on the upper floor helped to make anyone who might be on trial feel helpless. However, this was not a trial. It was merely a questioning and nothing more. Wither wasn't scared for two reasons. One, his parents and Yarrow were part of the council. Two, he knew all of the elders and had been here many times before.

As the Grand High Elder, Yarrow was their leader. Therefore, it was his job to begin the questioning. "Wither, I have informed all of the elders about your dreams. You claim that for the past few nights the Chronicler has been speaking to you about various topics. Just so we're all clear, is this true?"

"Yes."

"Alright." Yarrow thought for a moment to himself, then continued. "The Chronicler only appears during times of great fear and uncertainty. The last time he made his presence known was right before the second coming of the Dark Master, Malefor. Now, there were many signs of his return before he was released from his prison. There were battles that nearly decimated the dragon population and killed many members of the other races in the process. The war also razed much of the surrounding lands, which took years to coax back to life. The ape army struck fear into the hearts of all for quite some time before Malefor's return. My point is, after the Dark Master was defeated by your parents, peace returned to the land. Since then, there have been no signs that that peace is about to end."

"I don't understand it either," said Wither. "Everything seems so peaceful, but almost every night now, the Chronicler comes to me in my dreams and keeps talking about some impending doom and how it's all my fault."

"Tell me again what his exact words were," said Yarrow.

"He said that I have planted the seed of destruction and because of that, it will be my job to fix the problem."

Yarrow raised an eyebrow and asked, "You _have_ planted the seed of destruction? Is that what he said? Yesterday you told me he only said that you _would_."

"Well, that was yesterday. I had another dream last night."

"You never told us that."

"I never got the chance."

"Will you please update us on your new dream?"

Wither passed on the Chronicler's message. He told them about his warning that everyone should enjoy the peace while it lasts. Some of the elders shuffled uncomfortably in their seats as Wither told them that the Chronicler said, 'the twilight of peace has begun.' When Wither was finished, Ice Master Cyril asked, "So what you're saying is, whatever you did to bring about these dark times occurred yesterday?"

"But what seed did you plant yesterday?" asked Terrador.

"What did you do yesterday?" questioned Fear Master Vivian.

"I don't know. I didn't do anything of significance yesterday aside from what happened in the plaza."

Yarrow leaned forward and said, "Hold that thought."

He climbed down the stairs and opened the door, beckoning the other children into the chamber. When they were all settled around Wither, Yarrow climbed back up the stairs and sat down in his seat. "I thought it would be best if all were present for this. After all, you are all a part of this. You have shared one of Wither's dreams. It appears that Wither has had another dream. In this one the Chronicler told him that he has already set the approaching chaos in motion. This means that he did whatever it was yesterday. It has occurred to me that the Chronicler put it very specifically when he said Wither would, 'plant the seed of destruction.' The only thing that Wither 'planted' yesterday was nothing in Arragor. Knowing this, Wither, will you please return Arragor to his normal self to possibly save the world?"

"I guess . . ."

"Well, good luck with that you little brat," spat Spire, breaking his silence for the first time. "Arragor's missing. He never came home last night."

XXX

Arragor ran. He ran like he had never run before. He ran from everyone so that their stares couldn't reach him. When he reached the outskirts of Warfang, he took to the skies. He didn't know where he was going, but he did know that he never wanted to show his face in Warfang ever again. How could he? After what happened, he would never be the same again. That freak, Wither, had turned him into a freak, too. Arragor was furious, ashamed, and depressed all at once. All he wanted was to get away from everyone before they could start making fun of him. If they did now, there would be nothing he could do about it. He was powerless, just like that snake, Wither, had led him to believe. He cursed himself for not seeing the signs: the physical weakness that anyone who opposed him felt, his sudden disappearances, and his new found confidence, which seemed to form overnight. Wither had tricked him, taken Renna, and stolen his power with his own freakish element. Wither had humiliated him in front of everyone in Warfang and now he flew away from it all. He flew away from the one who had taken everything from him and those who watched him do it. He flew all day, fighting back tears, and trying to decide on a destination. Night fell and still he flew, heading north the whole time.

When the last few rays of sunlight finally disappeared, he reached a huge river. He was exhausted from the long day of travel, but he wanted to cross the river before he settled down for the night. Getting that large body of water between him and Warfang would be a good start on finding a new home. He flew over the river, straining his wings to get across. They felt like they were on fire due to his constant use of them all day. Young dragons like Arragor normally couldn't fly for very long and he had already pushed himself to his limits. Had it been nearly any other dragon in his class, he never would have made it this far. When he was halfway over the river he realized that he simply couldn't go any further as his wings stopped following his commands and gave out on him. He plummeted toward the water at a dangerously high speed. He tried to glide to the other side before he reached the river, but his wings felt as though they weighed a ton each. After only a few seconds of excruciating effort, his wings dropped to his sides, and he fell from the sky, landing about twenty feet short of the northern shore. The massive river swept him away and carried him far to the west before he finally managed to drag his exhausted, shivering form out of the river. When he reached the other side, he collapsed on the ground in a heap.

XXX

"Control yourself, Spire. There will be no name calling here. Now what do you mean he's missing?" Yarrow became visibly uneasy when hearing these words.

"I meant what I said. Arragor's gone. After you revived me and explained the nature of Wither's element and his dreams to the elders, I went home. Arragor wasn't there when I got home and when I woke up, he still hadn't returned. He's gone and I don't know where he is. If you ask me, it's all his fault," said Spire as he gestured at Wither.

"If you ask _me_ it's _your_ fault for not raising him better. He's the brat, not Wither," stated Elleca in an angry, but very matter of fact voice loud enough for all to hear.

"Elleca!" hissed Roxy in surprise.

"Oh, what? It's not like everybody wasn't thinking it. Someone had to say it and that someone might as well be me since everyone else is too afraid to speak up." While she was saying all of this, Spire was climbing down the stairway she had her back to.

"Spire, stop!" growled Yarrow. "Return to your seat."

"This young one has no respect for her elders. She needs to learn her place."

"That is not for you to decide. Return to your seat."

Spire stood at the base of the stairs, glaring at Elleca. He looked back at Yarrow and said, "Surely you won't let such insolence go."

"I will decide what will be done about this," Yarrow assured him.

Spire slowly climbed back up the stairs and plopped back down in his seat. Yarrow sighed and settled his gaze on Elleca. "Elleca, is it? You can't just say things like that about your elders."

"If you tell me I'm wrong, I'll apologize."

"Uh . . . well, hm. . ." Yarrow didn't seem to know what to say for a moment, but he quickly recovered when nudged by Spyro, who sat next to him. "It's already too late to apologize. What you said was harsh, and so your punishment will be harsh in return."

Yarrow turned to Spire and said, "Spire, I understand that losing your son must be quite difficult to handle. Please, go home and see if he returns. If he does, notify me immediately." Spire thanked Yarrow and left through the upper doorway.

When he was gone, Yarrow looked around at all of the other elders. "Do any of you think I should actually punish this girl?" All of the elders shook their heads.

Yarrow looked down at Elleca with a smile and said, "Your punishment was severe. You were hung upside down by your tail for an hour. Maybe that will teach you not to be so bold when speaking to your elders, even if there is a fair degree of truth to your words." The ancient dragon gave Elleca a wink at the end of this story once it was established.

Yarrow straightened himself and said to everyone in the chamber, "Back to business. If the seed is the nothing that Wither placed in Arragor, then we need to find him so that Wither can take it out. I don't blame you for what you did, Wither, but it was a reckless thing to do. You just realized what your element was a week ago. You may not fully understand how it works yet. There could be so much more to it that you still need to learn."

"There's much to it that we all need to learn," said Cynder. "But that's not the issue right now. We need to finish the questioning."

"Yes, then we need to look for Arragor," agreed Yarrow.

The elders questioned all of the young dragons about their dream or dreams in Wither's case and what the Chronicler said to them. Most of the conversation was centered on Wither since he had most of the dreams. When the questioning was over and all the elders had gleaned everything they could from the children, it was about noon. "So what you're saying is we're all going to have to fight in some kind of terrible war, and you, Wither, will lead your group of friends against this unnamed threat," reiterated Yarrow. "Sounds a bit ridiculous, I must admit. If it was anyone else telling me all of this I would have my doubts, but I've known you all your life and if you say that the Chronicler told you this in a series of dreams, then I believe you. This whole thing is a mystery. I don't know how you replacing Arragor's power with nothing can cause such devastation, but it is a fact that we must accept. The way I understand it, since you were the one who put the nothing in Arragor, then you must be the one to fix it by taking it out. Who else but you could take it out anyway? You're the first known nothing dragon."

Yarrow looked up and spoke to everyone in the chamber. "Finding Arragor is our primary task. We must locate him and bring him here before anything happens. I wonder where he went?"

XXX

As dawn broke, birds began to sing their merry songs to one another through the trees. The sound of their joyful chorus woke the sleeping dragon on the shore of a river. At first, Arragor couldn't remember where he was, but after a moment, all of yesterday's events came rushing back to him as he looked at the river. Tears welled up in his eyes as memories of the incident played out in his mind yet again. He rubbed the tears away with his paws and turned around. He was surprised to see a large mountain looming in the distance. The exhaustion he experienced yesterday was so intense that he didn't even notice it was there.

Still sore from yesterday's exertions, Arragor stepped into the forest that stood silently before him and made his way north, away from Warfang. After just a few minutes, he realized that he was starving. He was used to eating what his dad brought home and still didn't know how to hunt. In desperation, he looked around for a small animal of some kind to eat. He heard lots of creatures making their little noises here and there between the trees and in the bushes, but couldn't see anything that looked edible. How did the animals hide so well? They had to be all around him, and yet he couldn't see them anywhere. After searching for what seemed like hours, he finally found some mushrooms growing at the base of a large oak tree. There were two kinds. One group was a bunch of brightly colored, tasty looking mushrooms that had red caps with yellow spots and purple stems. Arragor looked at them and imagined how poisonous they must be. He passed them up for the other group of dull looking mushrooms, which had no color to them and looked revolting. He bent down and nibbled one down to a nub. As expected, it was awful, but it was food and it didn't _look_ poisonous.

After choking down the last one, he kept walking through the forest. There wasn't a trail, so he had to make his way through the foliage, which took longer than simply walking a straight path with no obstacles. The extra effort he put forth by pushing all the bushes and saplings out of the way was making him tired again. After several hours, he came upon a clearing that contained several crystals.

He sighed in relief, looking for a green one. Arragor knew that the green crystals may not replenish the magical energy inside him anymore, but he was looking forward to the boost it would give him. He found a nice sized one and placed his paw on it, ready to receive its energy, but when he did so, the crystal dissolved into his body instantly. The rush of energy never came. It felt like it passed right through him. He didn't bother trying a second time.

He kept walking, and made his way back into the forest, reminded once again of his new freakish status brought on by that twerp, Wither. Fighting back fresh tears and pushing aside more of the thick vegetation, Arragor stumbled into a bunch of sticky spider webs. He tried to wipe them off and looked to see if there were any spiders on him and froze. It wasn't a bunch of little webs, but a single, large web that spanned a whole ten feet between two trees. There were dozens more all over the place, but the creatures that spun them were nowhere to be seen.

He quickly stepped out of the web and ran through the forest with renewed vigor, past all of the massive webs that cluttered the area. The sounds of the forest that Arragor had gotten used to had stopped now. It was eerily quiet as he ran past all the webs that he suddenly realized had rather sizable collections of bones resting beneath them. As he ran, he thought he heard something skittering after him. He whirled around to face his pursuer, but there was nothing there. After only a second, he turned around and kept running through the trees. He noted that this particular portion of the forest seemed rather dead. The world appeared to adopt a dull, grey look. The vegetation that had previously littered the forest floor had all died in the absence of sunlight, which was blocked out by the thick canopy far above. That was another thing. The trees here were monstrous in size, easily twice the height of those surrounding this foreboding patch of wood. Sounds like skittering, scraping, and rustling haunted him as he made his way past the webs. He kept looking around, but he never saw anything. Then he heard a creaking sound and realized his mistake. He stopped looking around and looked up. Above him, in the trees, was a creature that looked like a giant purple spider. It jumped down in front of him and dashed from side to side, preventing him from getting around it. It had four legs and large, shiny black eyes that stared unblinkingly at Arragor in hunger. The purple, scaly body of the beast reared back as it let out a loud screech. While it was reared back, Arragor tackled it, flipping it on its back. He tore its throat out with his teeth and ran.

The sound of the creature's screech must have called others to the nest because two more of the four legged spiders jumped down from out of the trees and gave chase. He outran them, but not by much. They were incredibly fast and agile in their forest home. They jumped from tree trunk to tree trunk, trying to catch up, sometimes trying to come in from the sides, but Arragor changed course every time they tried this. He was almost out of their grasp when dozens more jumped down and surrounded him. At this point, Arragor realized that not only were they much faster than him, but also smarter than he had thought. They could have easily caught him if they wanted to, but they went for the sure thing and led him into a trap. They closed in around him, but just as they were about to attack, he gave his wings a heave. He gave it everything he had and even though they were still sore from extensive use the day before, he still managed to burst through the canopy and up into the air.

The bright sunlight met him as he left the depressing gloom of the shadows in the forest below. In the distance, he could see the edge of the forest and even though his wings were burning, he told himself he wouldn't land until he made it to the edge. When he did, he found that the forest ended rather abruptly. The trees ended immediately and the grass continued for only several hundred feet before gradually thinning out. At the edge of the grass was the beginning of a vast wasteland filled with permanently charred land that could never produce life again. The mountain that Arragor had seen in the distance before entering the forest was now quite a bit closer, and due to the looks of the land, it wasn't just a mountain, but a volcano. Arragor stood at the edge, where the grass met barren ground. He looked up at the volcano then back down at the foreboding foothills that led to it. Steeling himself, he took a deep breath and stepped onto the wasteland.

XXX

"How are we going to go about this?" asked Volteer.

"We need to split up and spread the word to everyone in the city," commanded Yarrow. "Tell everyone that if they see Arragor, he is to be brought to the Council Chamber immediately."

"Won't people be afraid to try to make him come?" asked Renna. "He was always a bully."

"They shouldn't be. Right now any dragon could take on Arragor. His powerless state makes him vulnerable to anyone. Bringing him here shouldn't be too much of a chore."

"Where should we check?" asked Wither.

"You will stay here with your friends to keep you company until we bring Arragor back. We need to know where you are when we find him so we can take him directly to you. Goodbye then, we're off." All of the elders got up and left the room via the upper exit.

Once they were gone, everyone sat in the middle of the chamber staring at each other in silence. Then Psy asked, "So . . . you're some kind of super-dragon-not-really who can do anything by doing nothing?"

"That's confusing," said Vera as she rubbed her head in thought.

"And inaccurate," added Wither. "I can't do anything."

"It was my understanding that your power lets you do pretty much whatever you want," said Psy.

"Well, that's not how it works. I can only do things that nothing affects, like teleport or go through walls."

"You can teleport?" asked Elleca in amazement.

"Actually, I call it shifting. If I imagine the space between where I am and where I want to be as nothing, then it becomes nothing and I can jump the distance."

Elleca looked at Wither in awe. "Oh, yeah! I saw you do that yesterday, but I couldn't believe it. You're the first dragon to do that. Now I'm jealous. I may be fast, but there's nothing faster than that."

"It's not perfect. You can be fast whenever you want, but I can't shift wherever I want. I can't imagine space I haven't seen to be nothing, and since I've barely left Warfang, it pretty much only works in Warfang right now. I suppose if I were to fly really high, I could get a good vantage point up there and shift pretty far, but I can't fly yet."

"Well, if you ask me, it's pretty useful," said Renna. It saved us from Arragor and his gang."

"I don't think you need to worry about him anymore," laughed Tera. "Once the elders find him and Wither returns him to normal, we can just threaten to have Wither suck his powers out again."

Everyone laughed at that. "That is if he hasn't learned his lesson yet," added Roxy through his chuckles. "He would have to be pretty dumb to try anything on us again."

Everyone agreed and started to talk. They tried to forget about the Chronicler's doom saying and sat down to get settled since it appeared as though they would be there for a while. Wither already knew most of his friends pretty well due to the time they had all spent together since the beginning of classes, but Roxy and Elleca, who the group had adopted not long after the supernova incident, were still a little bit of a mystery to him. All that anyone knew of them so far was based on their behavior and the group's observations.

At everyone's coaxing, Wither fully explained his powers to everyone and used a few demonstrations to help. Once they understood it to the same extent that Wither did, they moved on and began to talk to Roxy and Elleca. Naturally, the main group wanted to learn more about them. Sora worked up the courage to ask if they were siblings, but Elleca shot the possibility down using several choice words that shocked her back into silence. Roxy told everyone that though they weren't related they were born together. He explained that their parents were always great friends and wanted their children to be friends, too. It turned out that Elleca didn't really hate Roxy as it appeared. They were actually best friends; Elleca just liked to give Roxy a hard time.

When everyone felt like they had a better idea of what they were like, Roxy and Elleca asked what everyone else in the group was like. Sora remained quiet, which irked Elleca when she asked her what her story was. After much asking and no response Elleca said, "Hey. What's your problem? I know you can talk. You just spoke a few minutes ago."

Psy stepped between Elleca and Sora, wearing a slight frown, but letting little emotion show through his always calm demeanor. "I think you scared her when you shouted at her for asking you a simple question."

Elleca let one of her eyebrows fly up her face while the other nearly scrunched her eye shut. "Huh? Oh, calm down. I wasn't shouting at _her_ I was shouting at the idea of being Roxy's sister."

"Because that would be a travesty," mumbled Roxy next to her, causing her to whirl around and stare him down.

Once she was finished staring him into submission, she turned back to Sora and said, "So are we cool or what?" with heavy doses of sarcasm thrown in.

A small wisp of shadow curled away from the corner of Psy's mouth as he opened it to reprimand her for being so rude, but Sora placed a paw on his shoulder and said "It's okay," in a barely audible voice. She turned to Elleca and said, "You must understand that I don't make friends easily. When I was four, Arragor's friend, Xath, tried to play with me, but I was too shy. He got mad when I tried to get away and attacked me. I was so scared because I knew he was stronger than me. He hurt me really bad. It's hard to see since I'm white, but if you look closely, you can see the scars he left on my back. I think he would have killed me if Psy hadn't come along and beaten him up. Psy was furious. He didn't even know me, but he protected me like I was his own flesh and blood. He didn't stop, even when Xath was down. He just kept beating him and crying, saying that Xath was a monster. Some adults finally noticed the fight and broke it up, but it was a little too late for Xath. They had to take him to the moles for an examination. I don't understand their science or their complicated terms for things, but they said that something in Xath's head was broken. He had been beaten so brutally that they said he would never be quite the same again. The moles think that's why he acts so off.

"Psy was so young. He didn't understand that he could hurt someone that badly. When asked why he did it, he said he was just trying to protect me. He said he wanted Xath to hurt like he had hurt me. We were only hatchlings then, so they let him off with a warning, but as predicted, Xath was never the same again.

"I made friends with Psy after that. He was the first friend I ever made. It wasn't long after that that we met up with Renna. Then Tera and Vera joined in. It took a while to adjust to the new dragons, but after a while, I found that I fit right in. I don't have many friends, but they're good ones.

"The reason why I have such a hard time making new friends is because I can still remember what Xath did to me, and what Psy did to him in return. No one would have gotten hurt if I had just played with him. I'm not saying I was wrong for being shy, I'm merely saying that had I not been, it would have saved several people a lot of trouble, especially poor Xath. I don't condone what he does these days, but I still feel bad for him."

Wither stared at Sora in awe as she recounted this tale. He swiveled his gaze back and forth between Sora and Psy as she revealed this enthralling information. Wither never knew Psy could get so angry. He always seemed so calm, cool, and collected. It both fascinated and scared him to know that a raging onslaught of fury could burst out of him if he was angered enough, and poor Sora . . . Such a traumatizing experience was sure to leave its mark on her, but if things hadn't worked out the way they had, she wouldn't have made the great friends she had now.

Now Elleca held her forepaws out in front of her and motioned them down and said, "Whoa, hey, I didn't know. My bad, okay? I just don't like it when people ignore me."

"I'm sorry I ignored you. We can still be friends, right?"

"Definitely. Anyone who can go through something like that is cool to me."

Hearing this, Psy returned to his spot next to Sora and turned to Wither. Seeing the look on his face, the shadow dragon gave him a grim look and nodded, silently telling him that the story was true. After this, he turned his head and allowed his eyes to go hazy, clearly remembering the unfortunate event.

Turning his head back and forth, looking at everyone in the group, Roxy spoke up to break the awkward silence before it grew too long. "So you're twins, huh? What's that like?"

Now Tera and Vera looked up and said, "Who, me?" in unison while pointing at their chests.

"Wow, that's cool. You two always seem to know what the other's thinking."

"We do," they said in unison once more.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I."

"Always."

"Know."

"What."

"She's."

"Thinking."

The twins shared a sentence, each of them saying every other word without any pauses so as to make it sound as though one person spoke a flowing sentence. Roxy's head shot back in surprise, causing Renna, Psy, and the twins to laugh. Every Sora afforded them a slight smile. Wither and Elleca appeared just as shocked as Roxy. Wither had always found it a little odd that they seemed to speak together, but there seemed to be something to it now.

Once Renna got over her laughter, she waved a paw at the twins and said, "They share a telepathic connection. They know what the other's thinking."

"I didn't know that," said Wither in a surprised tone.

"You never asked," said Renna. "I'm actually surprised you caught on so fast, Roxy."

"That's cool," said Elleca, allowing an impressed look to cross her face for once. "That's a rare gift even among us dragons."

"It doesn't stop there," said Tera.

"We can feel each other's emotions," added Vera.

"When one of us is angry-"

"We both become furious."

"When one of us is sad-"

"We both become depressed."

"When one of us is happy-"

"We both become euphoric."

"Our emotions influence those of the other."

"And we can feel physical sensations that the other experiences."

"Oh, like that time-"

"You broke your wing-"

"And you were the one who couldn't stop crying about it."

Both girls broke out into laughter and simultaneously said, "Oh, that was so funny!"

"But I thought the whole connection thing between twins was only an identical twin thing. You both wield different elements, so you're clearly fraternal twins."

"Hu-uh," said Vera as she shook her head.

"That's just a myth," added Tera.

"Alright then," said Elleca, raising her head and sizing up Renna with a less than pleasant look on her face. "What about you, Sparkles? What's your story?"

Renna blinked a few times before allowing a similar look to creep its way across her visage. "Well, first of all, my name is Renna. I would think you'd know that by now. We've been hanging out together for almost a week now."

"Sure it is, Sunshine."

"Ugh, I'm just . . . Renna- I don't know, what do you want to know?"

Wither could tell that Elleca had clearly struck a nerve with Renna, but he could also tell that she had done it on purpose for some reason. While wondering this, he noticed that Elleca was looking him up and down the same way he looked at food. This unsettled him a bit, but before he could ask her what she was doing, she turned back to Renna, who had also noticed Elleca's fixation on Wither, and said, "Nothing, I guess. Never mind."

Renna moved a little closer to Wither and said, "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Another awkward silence followed this statement, which was eventually broken once again, thanks to Psy, who wanted to talk a little more about the dark times ahead. _Well, it seems like most of us are getting along,_ thought Wither. _That's good. We need to learn to work together if we're going to have to save the world. I just hope Renna and Elleca can resolve whatever's between them._

XXX

Meanwhile, Arragor was making his way across the wasteland. The ground was so parched that it was cracked into separate little patches of hardened dust. As he walked, the brittle, dirty clods crumbled under his paws. There were no trees to block the wind that rolled across the plain, kicking up dust and carrying it away. Along with the dust, the wind carried the faint, sickly smell of sulfur. He decided it must be coming from the volcano. After several minutes of progress, the ground became rocky and rough. The ground quickly transitioned into porous rock that looked like it had been formed by the volcano that loomed ahead, creeping closer with every step. As the terrain became rockier, the going got rougher for the already tired dragon making his way closer and closer to the volcano, which now seemed to be calling to him.

He became aware of a low rumbling noise that was barely audible to even his finely tuned dragon ears. Making his way over the rocky foothills, he noticed several larger holes in the rocks all around. He made sure not to fall into any of them. They looked deep. All he saw was darkness inside them, so who knew how far they went? If he fell in, he may not be able to find his way out. Some of the holes had sharp, jagged rocks lining the rims, so even if they weren't deep, falling in would hurt. Out of curiosity, he walked up to one of the holes in the ground and craned his head over it to peer in. He saw nothing but jagged, pointy rocks leading down into an abyss. After becoming bored, he kicked a rock in and turned around. He hadn't even taken one step when he heard a whoosh, followed immediately by a loud snap. He whirled around to face a large, black, rock-like mass. It was only there for a second, but he had turned just in time to see it slide back down into the hole. Once it reached the lip it opened its mouth again and fell silent.

Arragor shuddered as he realized that the pointy rocks were actually teeth and the hole was some kind of monster. Then he looked up and saw dozens of the maws all around him, awaiting there next meal. He groaned in despair at the situation he had inadvertently put himself in. After a quick look at the volcano, he settled his gaze on the path ahead and slowly, carefully continued his quest. Not all of the holes had teeth, and those stationary pit monsters couldn't eat unless their food came to them, which led Arragor to wonder what other monstrosities lived out here. As much as he wanted to run, he had to go slow or risk falling into one of the maws. He would have flown if he could, but he had already overextended the use of his wings to escape the spiders.

While he was walking, one of the many rocks around him sprouted legs and scuttled away with unbelievable speed. _The creatures here are strange and difficult to spot if you don't know what to look for._ Arragor watched the rock run down into one of the maws, which rose up out of the ground and snapped shut. The rock mawnsters, as Arragor had dubbed them, could raise about nine feet into the air and were about three feet across. They were cylindrical in shape and looked like living rocks. There were no eyes or ears from what Arragor could tell, and he could see no nose. He couldn't even tell where its brain would be, but then again, he had no way of knowing how big the whole thing was. Only so much of it came out of the ground to consume its prey. Other than that, they just sat there in quiet wait.

The small scuttling rock creatures didn't appear to pose any kind of threat, and they were quite easy to spot. They were a little too round to look like normal rocks once he knew what they were. Arragor thought his troubles were over once he was only several hundred feet from the base of the volcano, but as he was making his way around one of the rock mawnsters, a huge scorpion crawled out of one of the larger holes without teeth. Arragor froze. It was right in front of him, not five feet away. It looked out over the wasteland with its beady little eyes, made a hungry skittering noise with its mouth, then scuttled across the wasteland, presumably in search of food.

When it was far away, Arragor let out a long sigh of relief. He hadn't even realized he was holding his breath, but it paid off. By some sort of miracle, the scorpion hadn't seen him standing beside it. Most of the rock mawnsters were behind him now, so he quietly ran for the base of the volcano. However, when he was only a hundred yards away, he heard a loud screech. He looked over his shoulder and saw the scorpion that had missed him earlier. It was standing atop one of the barren rocky hills about a hundred feet away. It was staring at him, just standing there . . . staring at him. Then another scorpion came over the hill and stood next to it, then another, and another. Scorpions started coming out of every cave around. There were easily as many of them as there had been four legged spiders in the forest earlier. They all emerged from hiding and stopped, staring at him. After a lingering silence in which Arragor could hear his heart beating in his chest, they started to run after him.

Arragor turned and ran. All weariness was gone from his limbs, replaced by adrenaline and the will to live. He raced for the volcano as fast as he could. Luckily, the scorpions were much slower than the spiders, but they were a lot bigger. If one of them got ahold of him, it would all be over. The rocky ground hindered Arragor heavily, but the scorpions were used to their home and easily made their way to Arragor. They were twenty feet and closing when he reached the base of the volcano. Exhausted and unable to go any further, he collapsed just ten feet up a trail leading to the rim of the volcano and waited for death to come. However, it didn't. When the scorpions reached the base of the volcano, they reeled back and screeched as if in pain or fear. They turned around and ran back to the wasteland faster than they had even run trying to catch Arragor. He laid there and watched them run away, pondering his good fortune. After a moment of heavy breathing, he rolled over and looked up to the top of the volcano and whispered, "Thank you."

XXX

Back in Warfang, the search for Arragor was well under way. The elders had informed the entire city of the situation and what needed to be done. The whole city was in on the search. Children and adults, dragons and moles checked every nook and cranny of Warfang in hopes that Arragor was hiding in some little back alley. The elders asked Arragor's friends if they knew where he might be, but they didn't have a clue, and they didn't really seem to care either. Everyone they asked said that the last time they saw him was when he was running out of the plaza yesterday.

Everyone looked for him in desperation after hearing the elders' explanation of how important it was. The only citizens of Warfang not taking part in the search were waiting patiently in the Council Chamber. After Roxy and Elleca were better acquainted with the rest of the group, their talk turned to matters of the future. "So let's talk about what's going on right now," said Psy. "We're all curious as to what's happening, and right now no one knows that better than you, Wither. What did he say about us again?"

Wither shuffled in place a bit to get comfortable, then took a deep breath and said, "Okay. Like I said before, the Chronicler told me that I am to lead you against some kind of threat. If something is happening, then I'm not entirely sure what _we_ could do about it. We're just a bunch of kids. Surely the older dragons and the elders could do a much better job."

"No one knows the future, Wither," said Renna. "Well, except maybe the Chronicler. You don't know what it holds. Maybe we're all that's needed to solve this crisis."

"Whatever this crisis is," added Elleca. "The Chronicler isn't very helpful, is he? All he told you was that a war of some kind is coming, it's all your fault, and it's our job to fix it. We have no real way of knowing when this threat is coming, what it will be, how it will start, or what we're supposed to do to fix it. We're not even sure that reversing what you did to Arragor will solve the problem. Why does the Chronicler even bother telling us all of this anyway? If he can see the future and it's what he says it will be, then what can we do to change it? If Arragor isn't the problem, then finding him doesn't matter, and if he is the problem, then we won't find him. Am I right?"

Everyone mulled this over in silence. After a minute Sora mumbled, "What if the Chronicler didn't tell us everything he did? Look at everything that's going on right now. The elders told us they were going to organize the whole city in search of Arragor. Even if that doesn't help, the city is now aware of what's going on. Without the Chronicler's warning, no one would know to be prepared for what's coming."

"I guess you're right," admitted Elleca. "I wonder what we're supposed to do?"

"I wonder where Arragor is," said Tera.

"I wonder what he could possibly do to cause the end of peace," added Vera.

XXX

Arragor awoke where he had fallen asleep, on the trail leading up to the rim of the volcano, which now loomed over him. The sun was starting to go down, so there were only a few hours of daylight left. He got up and started to make his way up the volcano. The nap he took had helped recharge his sore body, so he felt a little more rested, but he was getting hungry again. The mushrooms he had eaten earlier in the day had worn off by now, but he wanted to keep going. He thought that maybe he could find food and water higher up on the volcano. An image of an oasis toward the top with a small pool of water and maybe some wild berries played about in his mind's eye. Even if the volcano was as barren as the land surrounding it, he figured he could use the vantage point to find a good place to get food and water.

The walk up the trail was long and took several hours. The fact that it was uphill the whole way didn't help any. However, Arragor did note that he was lucky that nothing dangerous lived up here. Everywhere he had gone, he had found himself in great danger. First, he was almost washed away by a river, then he was almost eaten by giant spiders, and just recently he was almost devoured by rock mawnsters and giant scorpions. Up here though, there was nothing. The entire journey to the rim was uneventful. Not only was there no oasis in sight, there weren't any animals, weeds, or insects of any kind. It was as if all life had abandoned the volcano. Nothing wanted to be up here. He thought back to when the scorpions ran from the volcano and looked around to make sure nothing was sneaking up on him. "Maybe I shouldn't be up here," mumbled Arragor to himself as he approached the rim.

By the time he got to the rim, the sun was sinking below the horizon. Darkness was creeping across the sky as he peered over the edge into the volcano out of curiosity. All he saw was darkness. The volcano seemed to go down to the deepest, darkest depths of the earth. He wanted to know what was at the bottom and got his wish when he slipped on the loose rocks and fell in.

His wings were still too sore to lift his body up. All he could do was unfurl them and glide down into the abyss that swallowed him up. As he fell, he knew he would never get out. This volcano would be his grave. The strange thing was he didn't even care. He had lost everything worth living for. Wither had seen to that. Arragor cursed him as he fell, blaming him for his death, which was soon to come. He wondered if there was any magma at the bottom or if he would just land on some ashen floor in the darkness and wait for starvation. He looked up and saw a small speck of light disappearing as he fell. Then he looked down and saw another speck of light coming up to meet him. After a few seconds, he saw a massive purple crystal suspended in the middle of the shaft. He landed on the edge of it and peered over it to see a boiling pool of magma hundreds of feet below. Making sure not to fall again, he stood back a bit. "Now what?" he thought to himself aloud.

He wondered what this strange purple crystal was and what it was doing hovering at the bottom of this volcano, when he heard a deep voice rumble the words, "Well, well, well. What have we here?"

Arragor nearly jumped off the crystal at the sound of the voice. He didn't think anyone else was down here. Clutching at his chest, he turned to see who had spoken to him. What he saw sent his mind reeling. He tried to open his mouth and talk his way out of the unthinkable situation he had landed himself in. All he could come up with was, "You're alive?"

The being that towered over him let out a chuckle that echoed and twisted in an other worldly, warped sounding way. "Why, of course I am my boy. I assume you know who I am?"

"You're the Dark Master," said Arragor in awe. "You're Malefor."

"Yes, that's right. You don't think I would be killed so easily do you?"

Now that Arragor had gotten over the initial shock of meeting the most infamous murderer in the world, he fell back into the slump he had been in for the past two days. "No, I guess not. I've heard lots of stories about you, most of which are none too flattering. Not many people like you these days. I do seem to recall from the stories that you once tried to kill all the dragons in the world. I guess you're going to kill me now, so go ahead and finish me."

"Hmm, you seem awfully eager to leave this world, and your scales . . . what happened to them? Tell me young dragon, how did you find your way down here?"

Arragor explained his tale, starting at the beginning, telling the Dark Master of his hatred for the weakling, Wither, and how he befriended the girl that he had always tried to be friends with. He explained how he and his friends had tried to warn him not to get too close to her, and he recounted how he used his unnatural affinity with fire to reach the top of the class, only to have it taken away by Wither's monstrous abilities, which he had used against him in a surprise attack that drained him of his element. At this point the Dark Master held up a paw for silence.

"Did you just say this . . . Wither has the power to take power away?"

"Yeah, he took all my power away and told me he replaced it with nothing so that I could never get it back."

At these words Malefor's eyes widened in wonder. "You mean . . . he's a Void King?"

Arragor looked up at the hopeful looking purple dragon. "I don't know what that means, but he can do weird things. When he took away my powers, he also teleported and turned sort of see through. When I tried to hit him, my paws went right through him. It's like he can just make stuff stop existing."

"And you said that he replaced your powers with nothing?" asked Malefor in earnest.

"Yeah. Why?"

Malefor sat back and looked up the volcano shaft, narrowing his eyes. "Let me tell you the story of how I ended up down here. There was a time when I ruled the world, but many opposed me. This didn't bother me too terribly, for I have been gifted with great power beyond any other dragon. However, two dragons wielding considerable power opposed me, and together they were able to seal me away down here. They had the help of the ancients of the past, but the point is I was defeated. The spirits tried to drag me down into the crystal we now stand on. They succeeded, but I had already set a plan in motion. The world was ending due to the power of the Destroyer, but the effects of the Golem King would have only cleansed the surface of the world so that I could remake it into a paradise. I was able to trick the two dragons that fought me into thinking that destroying the world was my plan all along, but it was only when I thought I was going to lose that I unleashed all but a fraction of my life force into the crystal. This would have truly ended the world by shattering it into pieces, but I held on to the hope that the ancients would take pity on that fool, Spyro, and give him the majority of their energy so that he may live after healing the world.

"They fell right into my trap. Spyro lived and left this place with Cynder by his side, but they knew not of the struggle they left behind. While they enjoyed their freedom and made a life for themselves, I was locked in a vicious battle with the ancients, the likes of which are indescribable to any who have not had the experience. Without the energy they had foolishly handed over to Spyro to keep him alive, they were unable to truly kill me. At the end of the battle, a stalemate was established. I was able to break free from the confines of my crystal prison, but the ancients tied what little remained of their energy to my very essence. By doing this, they effectively made me a prisoner down here.

"The battle with Spyro and Cynder, followed by the release of the vast majority of my elemental power, followed by my fight with the ancients, drained me of all my power. Until I regain all of my powers that I was drained of, I shall remain tied to this crystal. The farthest away I can get from it is the rim of the volcano, but I can't actually leave the interior. Without any green crystals down here, I have been unable to utilize the easy method to regain my powers. However, if a dragon needs to, it is possible to regain magical powers from the raw elements placed in this world. I have regained my power over fire from the lava below, taken back my ice from the ice that forms on the rim every winter, and reclaimed my earth due to the fact that it is all around. The lightning was a difficult one. I had to fly to the rim during thunderstorms and wait to be struck by lightning. This form of magic regeneration is painfully slow and takes quite some time, but I knew it would be many long years until I escaped this wretched prison. I just didn't know it would be today."

Arragor listened to Malefor's tale in awe. He didn't seem so bad. It looked like everyone else was the problem and they had just shut him away down here because they were afraid. It made him think of what Wither did to him, but more importantly, Arragor was thinking about the last thing Malefor had said. "You're escaping today? Did you just now get all your powers back?"

Malefor smiled and leaned closer to Arragor. "Not yet. I have had almost all my powers back for quite some time now, but there is one that is incredibly rare, one that I thought I might never get my paws on. You see, though I never shared the knowledge with anyone, during the war I discovered a whole new element. It was in a strange place called the Void. I toyed around with the powers the Void had to offer and learned all of its laws. The potential of the Void is infinite. I thought I finally found a way to be truly invincible, but before I had the time to become truly skilled with it, I was defeated.

Now you have come bearing the gift that I have waited for all these years. This Wither has planted nothing in you, as you say. I can sense it now. When regaining my other powers I had to expose myself to massive quantities of the naturally occurring elements, but nothing is different. Nothing is nothing. It doesn't matter if you have a drop of it or an ocean. Let me make a deal with you, Arragor. Give me the nothing planted inside of you. Doing so will release you from your curse and me from mine. In return, I will make you my disciple. I realize I made a mistake with Cynder. She was not a willing general, and so, she turned on me when Spyro freed her from my grip. However, I could use some willing help in my next try at the world. I will grant you great powers beyond your wildest dreams and teach you how to use them. This time I will have a willing general, that is, if you are willing. So what do you say? Give up being cursed and become a powerful general in my new army, call a vast portion of the world your very own, and get revenge on this Wither and help me get revenge on Spyro and Cynder."

A huge, sinister grin spread across Arragor's face at the idea. "You want to know something funny? Wither is their son."

Malefor sat there for a moment, not knowing what to say. Then he began to laugh. He laughed so hard it became a loud, rumbling roar that almost shook the walls of the shaft. The irony of his jailors' son releasing him was just too much.

Arragor stepped forward and looked up at the Dark Master. "I'm in. Teach me master. Teach me and together we will take this world."

Malefor stopped laughing and stood up on all fours. He had a look of glee in his eyes that spoke of vengeance. "Thank you, Arragor. I think you will find that you just made the wisest choice you could ever make. Now hold still for a moment."

Malefor placed a giant paw on Arragor's head and took a deep breath. Black clouds of nothing bubbled up from underneath Arragor's scales and twisted their way up Malefor's arm. The writhing mass shifted around his body for a moment before sinking into him and disappearing.

The orange hue returned to Arragor's scales, and tears formed at the corners of his eyes as he saw that his power was back. He looked up and saw Malefor glowing. A purple aura had formed around his body and began to travel down a previously unseen thread spanning the distance between Malefor's heart and the crystal below. The aura enveloped the crystal and began to pulse. The pulsations originated from Malefor's body, first manifesting in a slow, steady pace, but then quickening. As the pulsations grew more intense, the thread connecting Malefor to the crystal trembled more and more erratically until it snapped and dissolved into the crystal. The aura around the crystal and Malefor disappeared and he flexed his muscles as if finally able to stretch again. Then he laughed a long, low laugh and raised his head shouting, "I am reborn!"


	12. Chapter 11 The First Disciple

Chapter 11- The First Disciple

"I'm bored," moaned a recently insufferable Elleca. The search for Arragor had lasted all day. Every inch of Warfang should have surely been inspected by now, but still the eight young dragons waited. The sun had already gone down some time ago, but no one had come bearing any news, so they continued to follow the order to patiently await the return of the elders. Most of the children had found ways to occupy themselves. However, Elleca was quick to become restless and had claimed to be dying of boredom at least twenty times. She paced up and down the Council Chamber, exploring every nook and cranny in the room on both floors. Every time she passed one of the open doorways, she would stare through it longingly, wishing she could leave. There was nothing to do in a room that was empty save herself, Roxy, and her new found friends who were quite content to just lie around and do nothing.

Everyone else tolerated the pacing, but found the constant complaints of boredom annoying. Every time she cried boredom, the others offered suggestions on how to pass the time, but they were all boring things like sleeping or talking. As a lightning dragon, Elleca had an energetic spirit. She wanted to roam, to do something full of excitement and adventure. The mere idea of being confined to this room was enough to make her feel squished, like she couldn't move or breathe. This was the reason for the pacing. It helped her spend her excess energy, but it was a poor substitute for play.

After a few moments of silence, which was unbearable to Elleca, she gave a long sigh that grated Tera's last nerve. "You know, you don't _have_ to stay here."

"We're only here to keep Wither company," added Vera.

"He shouldn't have to stay here alone," finished Tera.

After this, Elleca stopped complaining, but she continued to pace in a circle around everyone on the upper floor. After a few minutes, Roxy joined her. "If it's any consolation, the current events promise plenty of excitement in the near future."

She turned to Roxy who was now walking beside her on the right side. He always walked next to her on the right side out of habit. She would have given him the usual remark for walking with her, but she was glad for her best friend's company and didn't want him to go anywhere else. Instead, she turned to him and looked past him to make sure no one was paying attention to her. She didn't want anyone to see her being nice. Tera and Vera were talking, Sora and Renna had fallen asleep, and Psy and Wither were quietly comparing the differences between the dark clouds of Psy's shadows and the ones formed by Wither's nothing. Satisfied, she focused on Roxy and began to whisper, "I'm worried, Roxy. Life has always been peaceful for us. We've never had to worry about a thing in our lives, but we've also heard the stories of what life can be like during war times. It wasn't really all that long ago that the last war was won. My parents told me that they only just finished repairing all the damage to the city a few years before we were born. The time for peace has been short, but it's all we've known. Our parents may be ready to plunge into war again, but I'm scared. I don't think we're ready for this, and according to the Chronicler, the war will be decided by us. That's a huge responsibility."

Roxy listened to his friend's troubles with a sympathetic ear and nodded in understanding, knowing how she felt because he was in the same situation. "Elleca, don't worry about it too much. The future will come in time. Just try to stay here in the present with everyone else. If you're afraid of the responsibility of playing an important role in this war, then just remember that Wither is our leader."

"But how is he supposed to be our leader? He's just as young as we are. We're not masters, Roxy. We don't have the phenomenal power that our elders have gained over the hundreds of years that they have lived. How are we supposed to make a difference?"

"Have you already forgotten what Wither has done? Elleca, he's not like us. He's special. He drained Arragor of all his power and then brought down the Fire Master like it was nothing. He stopped a supernova that could have devolved into a black hole, killing us all. Wither has done more at his age than most can say they've done in their whole lives. I bet only his parents and Yarrow remain stronger than him. He has to be able to defeat everyone else in the city in battle. I know he's last in the class, but he deserves to be number one. If anyone can help us in the coming trials, it's Wither."

A voice suddenly replied, "That's right." They both jumped and looked to the left, through one of the doorways. The elders were returning to the Council Chamber in single file through it. Yarrow pointed at the lower level and said, "This is our floor, you two."

Getting the hint, they climbed the stairs back down to the first floor where Tera and Vera were waking Sora and Renna. Psy and Wither were already looking up at the elders in expectation. Judging by the looks on their faces, they had been unsuccessful in their search for Arragor. All the elders, including Spire, took their places in the circle above them. The children each faced their respective teachers and waited to hear what they had to say. Yarrow sighed and said, "We were unable to find Arragor. I believe it is safe to say that he has run away from Warfang altogether. I also believe that we should begin preparations to defend the city tomorrow, but such a decision is not entirely up to me. We must take a vote. Either we ignore the Chronicler's warnings of danger or we notify the city to ready itself for war."

The vote to prepare was unanimous. As the elders talked amongst themselves about procedure, the question about whether or not the children of the city should participate was brought to attention, and the debate on it was only ended when everyone agreed on Valorie's idea. The children would help with the preparations, but be hidden in the catacombs beneath Warfang should a battle break out. However, the children before them were not grouped in the same class as the rest of the children. It was agreed that while the rest of the elders supervised and aided with the preparations, Spyro and Cynder would continue the teachings of dragon martial arts and elemental warfare with the 'special' children, as it was decided that they might someday need it.

Wither cut in with an interesting question for the elders. "What about all of the non-magical races like the cheetahs and the moles? They're our allies. Someone should tell them to prepare."

Terrador nodded his head and replied, "A messenger has already been sent to the friends of the dragon nation. Should everyone be willing to make the journey, an invitation has been extended to come to Warfang. Our non-magical allies will appreciate the protection and in return they can help defend the city. As for the moles, you know as well as I do that the vast majority of them live under Warfang, so they should be safe there."

"What about the dragons that don't live in Warfang?" asked Renna.

Cyril responded in a solemn tone. "Unfortunately, it is too much trouble to go around, searching for lone dragons or small groups that live elsewhere. When war breaks out, everyone will have the choice of either flocking to Warfang or hiding in a hole somewhere."

This answer didn't seem to be what Renna wanted to hear. She hung her head as she thought of all the dragons out in the open, unaware of how vulnerable they were to a disaster on the horizon. However, she couldn't argue for them, for she saw the truth in the elder's words. Everyone had to defend the city. There was no time to gather wanderers. The needs of the many outweighed the needs of the scarce.

Yarrow nodded in agreement with Cyril then said, "We will do all of this tomorrow. It's late now and we all need to get some sleep. We all have important business to attend to in the morning. Meeting adjourned. Go home everyone."

All of the dragons present were more than happy to oblige. Everyone was clearly tired from either searching the entire city or being stuck in one room all day. The elders shuffled home with dragging footsteps, and Wither's friends had to stretch in order to avoid cramping up on their way out the door. All of them said their goodbyes and left the Council Chamber. Their parents had already been summoned by the elders to take them home. The elders began to file out through the upper doorway, leaving Spyro, Cynder, Yarrow, and Wither alone.

Wither shifted to the upper floor and landed between his parents. Spyro jumped and closed his eyes, letting out a sigh. "I still haven't gotten used to that yet."

Wither looked up sheepishly at his father and said, "Sorry dad."

"It's alright. It's just new, that's all. I'll get used to it eventually."

Cynder joined in the conversation saying, "We all need to get used to it. You may only be a child with minimal training, Wither, but we cannot deny that the unique nature of your element places you well above even most of the elders. These past few nights I have even lain awake, wondering if you could, in fact, best even the three of us."

"Well mom, not to be disrespectful, but what _could_ you do against a non-existent being draining you of your very life force? I could probably defeat all three of you at once without raising a paw. Should I choose, I can make myself untouchable."

Yarrow spoke with warning in his voice. "Watch yourself, Wither. We realize you are capable of all these things and more, but as your mother said, you have just recently begun to hone your abilities. Attempting all of those tasks at once may prove too much for you. Remember, you have to concentrate on what you want for it to happen. Try to do too much at once and you may find yourself in a vulnerable position. Don't think power is everything. It helps, but hard work and motivation are half of what it takes. You know why the three of us are the best of the best? I'm a life dragon, which makes me quite powerful indeed, but I'm also an ancient. I've spent countless years learning how to control my element, and in time I was able to master it. Your mother was touched by the Dark Master's evil, which was unfortunate. However, it granted her powers much like those of a purple dragon, which, as you know, your father is. They both worked hard to save the world and were deeply motivated to end Malefor's reign. So no, power isn't everything. Remember that, Wither. Don't become arrogant. Let this be your only warning. If you do so on the battlefield, you may not live to learn from the mistake. We need you, Wither. You're too valuable not to participate in the defense of the city. Don't let us down. The best way to make sure you don't is to practice every day with your friends. Your parents will teach you well. Listen to them in the days to come."

Wither nodded and mumbled an apology. Anyone else his age would have been punished for the challenge to his elders like that, and he knew it, but being the son of two of them and the best friend of the other got him off with a warning. Yarrow softened his gaze and said, "You must be a good leader for your friends. I don't think your dream meetings with the Chronicler are over yet. We still don't know what we're up against or how you and your friends will play a role in the future. I want you to tell us if you have any more of these dreams."

Wither nodded and turned to his parents. "Should we go now?"

Cynder sighed with a tired expression on her face. "Yes, we're all exhausted from an entire day of running through the whole city. If you don't mind, can we hitch a ride on one of your wonderful shortcuts?"

Wither grinned and hopped on top of his dad's back, where he clung to the orange back spines to maintain a physical connection. Everyone said their goodbyes to Yarrow before Cynder took Spyro's paw, and together the family of three shifted to the hallway leading to Wither's room. When they landed, Wither jumped down and told his parents he was off to bed. They warned him that he would have to wake up early tomorrow for class before slipping upstairs to their own bedroom.

Alone, Wither went to his room and burrowed into his cushions. There he lay awake. Though he tried to fall asleep, thoughts were flooding his mind and wouldn't leave him be. He couldn't help but feel like something was on the horizon, something dangerous, waiting to strike. He peeked out of a small gap in the cushions. His room was dark and appeared as though there were things lurking in the shadows. It had been about five years since he was afraid of the dark, but he was afraid now. He closed his eyes tightly to keep out the uncertain images. How was he supposed to fight in a war if he was afraid of something as simple as the dark? He knew he would have to be strong for his people.

Then he opened his eyes as he remembered something. He laughed at himself for not thinking of it sooner. A black cloud formed in front of him, and he reached in and pulled out the black crystal he had stored in the Void. The glossy, black surface was even darker than the shadows in the room, yet it provided comfort rather than fear. With it beside him, nothing could hurt him. He maneuvered it underneath a pillow and placed it between his paws. Then he laid his chin down on the pillow and closed his eyes, grinning at his silly fear of the dark. After a moment, sleep took him. He lay peacefully, knowing that he was protected by his dark creation.

He awoke to the sound of his parents yelling his name. His eyes popped open, and he emerged from the mountain of pillows, wondering what the matter was. "What? What's going on?"

His parents were in the hallway close to the far wall, looking at him through his doorway. Spyro knitted his eyebrows together and asked, "Did you just attack us for trying to wake you?"

Wither's face scrunched up in a confused frown, but then he remembered the crystal and realized what must have happened. He reached into the cushions and pulled out the gem that faintly whispered, hungering for the wealth of energy slowly flowing into it from Spyro and Cynder, even at this distance. "No, I had this next to me last night. I felt safer with it."

He showed them the crystal, and they backed up even further until they were up against the wall. Cynder replied in an exasperated tone, "Well, put it away! We can't come in there with that thing. It will drain our magic, and we need to be fresh for today so we can teach you and your friends."

Wither tossed the crystal behind him and caught it up with a black cloud. As soon as it was gone, the invisible aura around him was as well. His parents came in his room and sat down. "Killer defense system," said Spyro. "It's good to see you won't even let your guard down while you're asleep, but this is your home. We're in the middle of Warfang, we're in the room right above you, and there's a whole series of traps separating this floor from the ground floor. Nothing can happen to you here."

"Now go to the roof and eat," commanded Cynder. "When you're done, go to the arena. Class will be held there. We're going to leave now, but you shouldn't have any problem getting there on time. You have fifteen minutes. See you at class." They left his room and headed up the stairs.

Wither shifted there and started in on his morning meal. After a few seconds, his parents caught up to him. They did a double take when they saw him before quickly realizing how he beat them and said a second farewell before taking off toward the arena. For a moment, he sat with his head down, content to eat whatever prey his parents had brought him today, but when he looked up from his meal, he was astonished by the scene that met his eyes. All around the city, dragons were creating defenses and traps for the coming war. Each citizen was doing their part, but it was obvious that more was expected of the earth dragons than any other elemental group. They were taking up the arduous task of hollowing out the ground to create a gigantic trench around the entire city. From what he could tell, it was about twenty feet deep and thirty feet across. It dipped on both sides to form a U shape like a half pipe. The excess earth didn't go to waste. What was carved out to form the trench was condensed and compacted into super-dense double-tipped spikes. One end was plunged into the ground at an angle so that the other end faced outward, away from the city.

If any enemy troops got past the wall of spikes, they still had to go into the trench and climb over the other side. The ice dragons were following the earth dragons as they made the trench. They were blowing their magical non-melting dragon ice all over the smooth surface of the half pipe, making the steep surface too slippery to climb over. A second group of earth dragons was making another trench further away from the city. It wasn't as deep as the inner trench, but it was quite a bit wider. It was only five feet deep, but about fifty feet across. The excess earth went toward more spikes, and this group of earth dragons was followed by the city's few poison dragons. They were creating a toxic moat that no foe should be able to cross.

For the moment, none of the other dragon's special skills were needed, so the remaining citizens were doing crystal runs. Many were down in the crystal caverns beneath Warfang, bringing the sacred gems to the surface. From there, the wind dragons, among many others, flew them to the dragons working on the defenses so that they could continue to exert their magical influence around the city.

Wither had never seen such activity before. _So this is what we do in war times?_ He went back to his meal and tried not to get distracted by all of the strange goings on around him, but as he tried to focus on his food, he noticed a low hum in his ears. It had been there for a while, but only now could he hear it. He looked all around, but couldn't tell where it was coming from. It almost sounded like it was coming from _inside_ his head.

He was still trying to work it out when the buzz got louder and turned into what sounded like a thousand voices all fighting to be heard over one another. He clamped his paws over his ears, but this had no effect. The voices _were_ in his head. He thought he was going crazy until a familiar voice rose above all the others, turning them into the barely audible drone again. "_Wither? There you are. I couldn't make contact with you when I sent out the city's instructions_."

"Yarrow? Where are you?" asked Wither as he looked around in confusion.

"_Don't you know? I'm in my garden. I've connected the citizens of Warfang into a single collective so that we can be as efficient as possible. However, I was unable to connect with you until just moments ago. Your parents told me about the crystal you slept with. That must have been interfering with my connection_."

"I thought they were going to the arena."

"_They did, but everyone can communicate to each other through the channel I'm keeping open. Just think about whom you want to talk to, and they will hear your thoughts_."

"_You mean like this?_" thought Wither.

"_Exactly_."

"_That's incredible!_"

"_This ability is one of a life dragon's greatest. The hive mind effect is new to everyone, so there is some getting used to it, but it's very helpful in keeping everything organized. Well, that's all for now. I need to get back with the other people I was talking to. Oh, get to class. It's about to start._"

Yarrow's voice left Wither's mind, but he could still hear the low hum if he concentrated enough. He scarfed down a few more bites then shifted to the arena. He landed in the middle of a circle. One portion was made up of his friends, which were facing their new teachers, Spyro and Cynder. Everyone jumped from his unexpected appearance. "Whoa, Wither! That's really scary!" exclaimed Tera.

"Yeah, don't do that," added Vera.

Wither gave everyone a sheepish grin. "Sorry. It's the best way to get around, and I would have been even more late if I had have walked."

"Actually, you're just in time," said Spyro. "Please take a place with your friends."

Wither sat down between Renna and Psy. Renna swished her tail across his to catch his attention and mouthed a hello when he turned his head. Then he heard Psy whisper, "I give your entrance a ten."

"If we're all done chitchatting then let's get to work," said Spyro. Everyone sat up and looked at their two new teachers. Once he had their attention, Spyro continued, "We need to work on your fighting skills to prepare you for war. We'll start off by fighting you ourselves. Cynder will take on Wither, and the rest of you are to work together against me. When we're done, we'll work on your weak points. First, you will fight me, and Cynder and Wither will watch. Then Wither and Cynder will fight while everyone else watches." He turned to Cynder and said, "Alright, I think the two of you should back up now."

Cynder motioned to Wither to follow her to the stands. On their way there, Cynder turned to him and said, "Don't think I'll go easy on you because you're my son. I don't want you to hold back. Give it your all. I'll be doing the same."

Wither kept walking and looking straight forward. "Don't think I'll go easy on you because you're my mom. I want to see if I really can best you in the ring." They made it to the stands and took a seat.

His friends had all gathered together and were facing his father and waiting for the signal to start. Spyro looked around at his new students and shouted, "Begin!"

Only about a second after he said it, Elleca was on his back. She dug in deep and refused to let go. The others let loose with a volley of different elements. The combined force of their attacks slammed into him, forcing him on his hind legs. Seizing the opportunity, Roxy ran forward and tackled the Purple Dragon in the chest, nearly toppling him. However, Spyro flared his wings to gain some balance back, which was only lost again when Elleca did a flip over his head, landing in front of him. She had used his shoulders to pull herself over him, pushing him back in the process. He landed on his back the moment she landed on her feet.

Everyone rushed him while he was down, but a wall burst through the ground between him and his eager students. On the other side, they heard Roxy yell out. Then the wall was blown apart and the pieces pummeled the others. Most of them were able to pick themselves up and retreat, but Sora was knocked down and didn't get up. When the dust cleared, the students saw that Roxy was frozen solid. They tried to regroup, but Spyro suddenly let out a long jet of flame that formed a wall of fire, splitting the group in two. He charged after Tera and Vera. Both were very talented and powerful young dragons, but hardly a match for an elder, let alone the Purple Dragon. They did their best to fend him off, but a wide electrical burst was all it took to drop them both, paralyzed.

He turned to face the fire wall and dropped it right before releasing another burst. The electrical wave pulsed through Psy, dropping him like Tera and Vera before him. Elleca, however, was too quick to be caught so easily and as for Renna . . . where was she anyway? When the fire wall dropped she wasn't behind it anymore. This didn't seem to bother Spyro. He faced Elleca and studied her up and down. She was doing a quick, jittery dance much like the one Xath had done during the competition. Spyro knew she was trying to generate enough electricity to unleash a fury attack. This didn't really bother him either. What really surprised him was the speed at which she moved. It was almost unnatural how she blurred in place as his eyes tried to focus on her. She was generating the energy quickly and would have a sufficient amount in just a few seconds.

She was going to be a difficult one to take down. She was too fast to hit with a normal attack. The only way he could finish her off would be if he let out a pulse. The only problem was that a pulse could be too powerful for someone as young as Elleca. He quickly judged her distance and speed before delving deep within himself to let out an earthen pulse in all directions. As the emerald bubble expanded, Elleca tried to outrun it, and she almost did, but the edge of it caught her and lifted her up off the ground. She was tossed to the ground and bruised rather badly, preventing her from recovering as quickly as she normally would have. By the time she did pick herself up, Spyro was looming over her. She tried to get away, but he grabbed her by the tail and held her down long enough to freeze her in place.

When she was still, he turned away from her and looked around. Three paralyzed, two frozen, one unconscious . . . one missing. Now he was ready to question Renna's whereabouts. She was nowhere to be seen. Had she run away? She would be in a bit of trouble if she did, but as Spyro was about to speak with Cynder, a blaring sunbeam struck him in the back. He cried out as the unexpected blast burned his scales. He turned to deal with the light dragon, but she wasn't there. For a moment, he just stood there in confusion, but then another burst struck him in the same place on his back. He growled and turned around, trying to get a glimpse of his target, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Next to Wither, Cynder leaned forward in shock and awe. "I don't believe it! She's so young . . ."

Wither looked up at his mom in confusion. "What's going on? Where's Renna?"

Cynder was still trying to recover from the shock, but she leaned over and whispered to Wither. "Light dragons can bend the light around their bodies, rendering themselves invisible, but it's a very advanced technique. She shouldn't be able to pull it off for another year or two."

Wither looked back at the fight in admiration. Spyro was looking all around, narrowing his eyes and staying very still. After a moment, he saw a slight shimmer to his left. He lunged for it and let loose with a stream of fire. He missed his target, but scared Renna into losing her concentration. The air began to ripple and a strange, warped looking dragon shape stood next to the flames attempting to focus. Spyro pounded the ground and the earth rippled upward like a wave of rock. The rippling dragon ran out of the way and began to flicker. In between flashes, Wither could see Renna attempting to regain her invisibility. Unfortunately, she couldn't focus hard enough and was beginning to tax her abilities with rapid movement. She realized that she had been found out and gave up, returning to normal. Spyro formed walls around her from the earth, leaving her only one exit past him. He walked up to her and said, "Well done! That was an outstanding display of elemental talent. This fight is over." The walls and rubble melded back into the ground. Spyro thawed out his frozen opponents with fire, cured the ones with paralysis, and revived Sora with one of the emergency red crystals off to the side of the arena.

Cynder and Wither stood and returned to the center of the arena where everyone awaited them. When they got there, Cynder placed a paw on Renna's shoulder and asked, "When did you learn to do that?"

Renna saw that everyone was looking at her and looked down in embarrassment. When she looked up at Cynder, she replied, "I read about it in the Book of Light. The idea of being invisible was so interesting that I've spent all of my free time practicing it ever since."

Everyone looked impressed, Spyro and Cynder especially. "You definitely had me confused there for a minute," said Spyro. "You took full advantage of the element of surprise. You also got a few good hits on me. Your performance was by far the best I have ever seen for someone your age. Excellent work." He then turned to everyone else and addressed them. "Elleca, you were a close second. Were it not for Renna's outstanding display of invisibility, I would have given you first place. Your speed is phenomenal. How do you move so fast?"

Elleca shrugged, looking agitated, "I was born that way I guess."

"I can barely even see you when you're going at top speed. That's definitely your greatest attribute, but I was also impressed with your martial arts. You fight like a master."

Elleca thanked him for the praise before he moved on to everyone else. "Roxy, you did so-so. That was a gutsy move, tackling me like that, but effective. Make sure you don't put yourself so close to danger though. Were it not for Elleca, I would have finished you off even sooner than I did. As for the rest of you, make sure you stick together. Once you let me separate you, it was all too easy. Safety and strength are in numbers, especially at your age. You must work together to bring down your foes. Don't become separated in a fight or it will be a short one. Anything you wish to add, Cynder?"

"Only that you, Psy, need to work on your reaction time. You could have at least blinded Spyro with your shadows to make Elleca's job easier. You had about a second after the fire wall came down, but you were too slow. Be more alert. You're too casual and you lose focus that way."

Spyro nodded and looked down at Wither. "Do you have any remarks for your classmates?"

Wither looked around at his friends. They all looked eagerly at him, especially Renna and Elleca. They seemed to value his opinion even more than his parents'. "I guess I would just say that you were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, Sora. Tera and Vera, rather than sticking together maybe you two would actually be better off apart." Spyro and Cynder exchanged confused glances at this. "Remember that you have a telepathic connection. You could certainly do more apart. Communicate with each other through your link and attack on opposite sides. Rather than going for power in a concentrated attack pattern, you may find more success in a strategically coordinated one."

Spyro and Cynder looked up in surprise. "You two are mentally connected?" asked Spyro. They both nodded. "Interesting. I had no idea. Then I agree with Wither. If you can flank your opponent in battle, then many options and advantages become open to you. This strategy coupled with your gift would make for some pleasing results. As for the rest of you, I must ask you to refrain from using Yarrow's connection to do the same. The purpose of our exercises is to help you improve _your_ abilities, and that is one that may not always be available to you.

"Alright, I believe the time has come for Cynder and Wither to duke it out. Let's go to the stands to watch everyone." Spyro turned toward the stands, everyone following in his wake. Only Renna and Elleca turned to wish Wither luck then they were on their way.

When they had taken their seats, Wither looked up at his mother. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, held it for a moment, then slowly exhaled. When he opened his eyes again they were filled with that same utter indifference to the world that they had when he had cursed Arragor. Wither stared right into his mother's eyes, and for the first time in years she felt . . . cold. Those dull, colorless, lifeless eyes gave her chills and unsettled her so much that she had to look away. _Why am I so afraid of him? He's my son! But those eyes . . . it's like it's not even him behind them._

From the stands Spyro shouted, "Whenever you're ready!"

Cynder shook her head and focused on her opponent again. She hardened herself the way she used to for war and drilled into those careless eyes with her own merciless ones. She opened her jaws and shouted, "Three! Two! One! Go!"

She instantly blew shadows into her son's face and charged at him with claws extended and teeth bared. She swiped at him, but her paw went right through him. The shadows around his face dissolved, and he jumped backward, disappearing. He landed on her tail and bit down with all his might. Cynder let out a growl of pain and whipped her tail, sending him flying. Before he hit the ground, he disappeared again and materialized, still flying through the air due to his previous momentum, and tackled her right in the face.

This jerked her back and caused her to stumble, which he took advantage of by hanging from her neck with his front paws until she lost her balance. She landed on her side with him still pinned beneath her, but he turned transparent and phased through her, allowing him to shift on top of her and bite down hard at the base of her wing, this time causing his opponent to let out a yelp.

Cynder rolled and almost squished him, but he shifted again and stood about twenty feet away. She stood and peered at him, thinking. He was impossible to hit if he nullified himself, and he kept shifting, which made it impossible to get a fix on him. She was already in a little pain due to the bites, but he hadn't suffered so much as a pat on the wrist yet. She took a step toward him, but when she did so, he lifted up off the ground slowly and was enveloped in the darkest of clouds. When the clouds receded he was gone.

She looked at the spot where he had disappeared in frustration then gasped when clouds began forming in the air around her. At first they did nothing, but then they surged toward her in long, flowing steaks that twisted around each other and their target, surrounding her in a cage of writhing nothingness. Suddenly, one cloud after another zoomed inward and passed through her like ghosts. Over and over again, they surged through her and around her, weakening her with every pass.

It reminded her of the time Spyro did the same thing with floating purple dragon heads in Convexity several years ago, but this was worse. The dragon fury purified her, seeking out the evil long instilled in her and purging it from her body. This was like having her very life force ripped away. Within seconds, she was brought to her knees, breathing deeply like one does right before being sick. Her eyes began to droop when the clouds dissipated and spit Wither back out before her. He had decided that she had had enough. He had proved himself.

The slight buzz returned once he came back out of the Void. At first he thought it was Yarrow checking up on him, but then he noticed that all the other voices had fallen away. A strange, unfamiliar voice whispered to him. "_Do it . . ._"

"Huh?" Wither cocked his head a bit and stumbled.

"_Use the crystal . . . Use it like _this."

Wither shivered uncontrollably for a moment before becoming still again. He had his head down and was breathing like his mother had been seconds before. As she recovered, she looked up and asked, "What's wrong, Wither?"

Then he looked up. What she saw would haunt her for years to come. If his eyes had been bad before, they were demonic now. No traces of her son remained behind them. They were black, but not pitch black. They actually seemed to be glowing black. She didn't know how it was even possible for something to glow black, but that was the perfect way to describe what she saw.

The eyes weren't the only things to change. He now wore a grin that made him seem far more malicious than he had ever demonstrated, and the air rippled around his back spines and head spikes in small, flowing streams. The last change was the tail spade, which was normally just an oval with a pointy tip. It was now opened up and separated into slivers, all held spinning in circles by an unseen force, and there, in the center of the swirling masses, was the dark crystal of Wither's design. He pointed it at Cynder and said, "Wither and wane, this stone is your bane. Submit to my will and I'll drive you insane." He chuckled at his wit as she grasped her head between her paws and let out a deafening shriek. His voice echoed in her mind, the last syllables of his speech playing out over and over again in her ears until they slowly faded out.

Spyro and the others stood in horror at the scene before them. As Wither spoke, his words pushed out in palpable waves that they could literally feel beating against their chests and faces before the tide of his speech made its journey back to its origin, tugging at their forms and almost pulling them in a step or two. Spyro dashed to the center of the arena, forgetting the students that followed behind him. When they got there, Cynder was floating a foot or so off the ground, held in place by the grinning dragon and his crystal.

"Wither! What are you doing!" shouted Spyro.

Wither turned toward Spyro. As he did so, his tail moved away from Cynder and past his father and friends. Cynder fell in a heap on the ground and didn't move. As Wither's tail pointed briefly at his friends while turning, it brought them all to their knees. Only Spyro was strong enough to hold his ground, though he felt his strength ebb at a frightening rate for the brief moment the crystal was pointed at him. It was like it was on overdrive.

Now he was face to face with his monster of a son, and it left him speechless. Wither answered his father's question in a voice that tugged at the very fabric of existence. "I'm taking back what's mine."

Spyro's face twisted into a hurt and confused expression. "Why are you doing this? Stop! Don't make me hurt you, Wither."

Wither laughed and stared Spyro right in the eyes. "Hurt me? But didn't I tell you? You cannot defeat me. I am eternal!"

With these words came understanding and a deep seated fear. "No . . . NO! How? Get out! GET OUT OF HIM! WITHER!"

Wither laughed again, pointing his tail back at Cynder. This time she woke up and stood. Shadows played all around her body as it was plunged into darkness. Her glowing white eyes and horns were all that could be seen in stark contrast to the swirling blackness that had surrounded her once before about twenty years ago. Wither's grin slackened a bit, and he appeared confused. "But is it right?" he seemed to ask himself.

The voice whispered back, "_Right, wrong, it's all subjective. Only you can decide what is right. I'm simply giving you a little nudge. There's so much to learn. I can teach you if you will be my student._"

"But I'm Yarrow's student, and I don't even know who you are."

"_Is it not obvious? I am the one who learned nothing before you, the one christened Dark Master. Death beckoned to me twenty years ago and I ignored the call. You're not the only one who has learned of nothing. I can teach you everything about your power. There's so much you don't know. Everyone will fear and persecute you for your differences where you are now just like they did to me. Come. I'll teach you._"

"You . . . can teach_ me_ about _my_ power? Uh . . . what kind of power are we talking about?"

A rumbling laughter met this answer as Malefor answered, "_The kind of power that can bring the world to its knees, the kind of power that can make you the king of everything, the kind of power that can make you invincible._"

Wither could feel something tickling his mind. He didn't exactly know why the thought of such things sounded so tempting, but he found himself wanting to know more. "I think I would like that."

Spyro listened as his son seemingly talked to himself. "No! Wither! You have to fight it! Don't let him control you! If you're not careful, he'll trick you into thinking you want what he wants! He's possessing you!"

Looking up, Wither gazed at his father with his glowing black eyes and listened to his words. He looked at his friends who watched him in confusion and asked Spyro what was going on. They seemed to think he was acting strangely, too. Maybe he _was_ under the influence of Malefor's dark powers. "Yeah, I think you're right." Wither began to resist the power that was surging through him, though it was exhilarating and difficult to give up.

"_Oh no, you don't. I'm not giving you up that easily._"

Suddenly, Wither's body began to shudder before he raised his head up to the sky and let out a pained cry the likes of which he had never made. Lowering his head again, he shouted, "No! You're just trying to weaken me! You want me to give up this power now because you're scared! I'm more powerful than you are and you don't like it! Being the Purple Dragon isn't fun anymore when you're not number one, is it?"

Backing away, his heart beating in horror, Spyro replied, "No, Wither! That's not it at all! Please, I'm your father! You have to trust me! Just shake him out of your head and let yourself calm down."

"I think not, _father_. You know what I _am_ going to do? I'm going to get back at you for all the pain you've caused me. You stole my childhood. I'm not normal like the others because you never gave me the chance to grow up like a normal youngling. I've lived my entire life in a tower with only night visits to old crones forty times my age. All my life, I've been forced to live in books and fantasies, but no more! No. You've gotten away with all of that, but that ends today. You and my _mother_ will have to pay what you owe!"

At these words, Cynder lunged forward and slammed into Spyro with all her might. She raked her claws down his side and stabbed him in the back with her tail. She attacked him relentlessly without pause, ripping and tearing and beating her husband into submission.

"Cynder! Stop this! You're stronger than the darkness! You've beaten it before! Don't you remember! Please, your love for me is stronger than your hate! That's what you told me last time! You said you love me so much that you could never succumb to the darkness while I'm around!" Spyro kept falling back, refusing to fight his wife, but sustaining injuries all the while.

Wither's friends looked on in terror as Wither laughed while waving a paw, somewhat matching Cynder's movements. "Yes, that's right. Fight. Fight for my amusement. Your bodies are canvases and my pain is the paint. Feel my pain you monsters. May you etch your own evil into one another. Fight!"

All of Wither's friends looked back and forth between the maniacally laughing dragon they had thought their friend and the two fabled heroes that were being pitted against one another. The sound of a pained cry got their attention. Spyro was still refusing to defend himself, taking heavy abuse from his mate. Tears were flowing down his face and blood was running down his body and dripping on the ground. "Please, Wither. We love you. Don't do this."

Raising himself up, Wither replied in a low voice, "Love? What do you know of love? You always claimed that you kept me in that tower to protect me, but you know what? If you truly love something, you'll set it free. Your 'love' came too late. I've taken what you've given me to grow on, and this is what I've come to. Are you not satisfied? You made me this way. If I'm not all that you've expected then it's all. Your. Fault. Don't talk to me about love ever again. It is a blasphemy to call what you've done to me love. _Mother,_ finish him."

Cynder raised a paw and smacked Spyro across the face, sending him to the ground. He looked up, his eyes mirroring the sorrow in his heart, as she lunged at his neck.

"STOP!"

The shadowy dragon halted an inch from the vulnerable flesh of Spyro's throat. Wither stopped laughing and froze in place as the shock of the statement paralyzed him with surprise. "Wh-what?"

Renna was standing with her friends weeping freely as she watched the scene almost come to an end before her. "Stop, Wither! Just stop! Why can't you do that? What's wrong with you? Leave them alone. They're your parents. Of course they love you. Please, you have to let go of your pain. They may have hurt you, but they were only doing what they thought was best for you. This isn't going to get you back the years that you spent in your house. I don't know how you feel about how you turned out, but this is not the Wither I know. The Wither I know came out of his house on the day of the Great Awakening a sweet and kind dragon. You didn't let anything that anyone did bother you. You were a good friend. I want that Wither back! Give him back!"

Wither shuddered and gasped as the clouds in his mind lifted immediately, as if by magic. "What? No, is this what it means to have this kind of power? What have I become? No! I don't want it! Take it back you beast! Take it back! I don't want it! I don't want it!"

Recoiling at the sudden surge of power that backed Wither's will, the Dark Master gave a roar of frustration and shouted, "_Fool! In time, you'll come to learn that your hollow heart marks you as an anathema to all others! Until you come around, you and all of Warfang shall face my wrath!_"

Wither rippled until he was back to normal then fell to the ground. Cynder returned to her normal self and followed suit. When Wither awoke, he was disoriented and discombobulated. His father was standing over him with a worried expression and his friends were off to the side looking equally scared. "Ugh, did I lose?"

"Wither! You're alright! Thank the ancestors! I thought you were hurt. Hold on. I'll be right back." Spyro ran over to a lump on the ground several feet away. Wither recognized it as his mom. Then it all came back to him.

He jumped to his feet, shouting hysterically. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't-"

Spyro cut him off. "It's not your fault, Wither! Just hold on." After a moment, Spyro was able to revive Cynder with the help of a substantial amount of crystals, and she stood shakily, using her husband for support. "Are you alright?"

She took a deep breath and replied, "I'm fine. I just need to rest. Use those crystals on yourself. You're a mess." She looked up at Wither and saw his worried expression. Giving him a warm and teary eyed smile, she said, "My baby, you're okay."

Wither nodded. "What happened?"

Spyro cast his gaze downward. "I believe that the worst has happened. From what I can tell, the Dark Master has returned."

Everyone froze at these words. "How do you know?" asked Elleca after a moment of silence.

"Right before Cynder and I defeated him, he said, 'You cannot defeat me. I am eternal.' Also, he must have somehow possessed Wither and used him to get to Cynder again for revenge, but I thought he was dead!"

"Apparently not," mumbled Cynder. Everyone sat in silence for a moment, now knowing what they were up against.

"So what you're saying is that Wither isn't responsible for what he just did?" asked Roxy.

Shaking his head, Spyro said, "Please, none of you should blame him. No one can be held responsible for their actions while under Malefor's control. When he corrupts someone as heavily as he just did, it's not even the person who's performing the actions anymore. They're just a shell to house Malefor so that he may do things from their bodies. He seals their minds away inside themselves and isolates them from the outside world with thick walls of darkness."

Turning her head, Cynder said, "Thank you, Renna. I don't know how you were able to break through to him, but if you hadn't . . . Oh, I don't even want to think about it."

Everyone seemed to relax and motioned Wither over to join them, giving him hugs and patting him on the back to let him know everything was okay. Once he was settled amongst them once more, Wither spoke up. "Thank you, Renna. I don't know what I would have done without you. Thank you for pulling me out of myself."

"You're welcome, Wither. I just couldn't watch you or your family hurt anymore. It had to stop."

"On the bright side, I think that possession was a onetime thing. Malefor was trying to get me to be his student so he could teach me about my powers, but I refused once I realized what was happening."

"What did he say?"

"He told me to face his wrath."

Cynder stood up fully now and asked, "When?"

"I don't know."

Just then, the air began to ripple several yards away. A large fissure appeared to open up in midair and darkness poured out. It swirled around in a shapeless mass for a moment before receding back into the fissure, which disappeared along with the ripples, leaving behind Arragor. He was quite a sight to behold. Everyone observed that he was orange again, which meant that he had somehow gotten his powers back. However, the most interesting thing about him was that he was covered from head to tail in shiny, black armor. For a moment, no one said a word. Then Spyro took a step forward and asked, "Arragor?"

Arragor turned to him. A malicious glee twinkled in his eyes, making everyone uneasy. He lifted an armor clad paw and shoved it in Spyro's direction. Instantly, Spyro was thrown backward against the wall. "Spyro!" shouted Cynder before she, too, was thrown back against the wall.

"Mom!" Wither turned to face Arragor. "That's it! You're done!" He summoned up black clouds of nothing and flew them through his opponent.

Arragor raised a paw to touch one of the passing clouds and chuckled. "It tickles."

"Wha-?" Wither stood in confusion as he watched Arragor saunter over in a jolly manner. Wither went transparent as he got closer to protect himself from the larger male.

Again, Arragor chuckled to himself and said, "Oh no. You don't exist right now. How will I ever fight you?" He raised an armored paw and struck Wither hard enough to bring him down. Wither laid there, struck in more ways than one. The only thought that was going through his mind was, _how_? Then he looked up and realized that Arragor's armor was made of specially shaped and fitted black crystal. _Impossible_.

The next thing Wither knew, he was being lifted off the ground by nothing more than Arragor's paw movements. He turned the struggling dragon to face him and said, "Oh how the mighty have fallen. Now that your powers don't work on me, you can't hurt me anymore. We're back to the way it should be, with me on top and you at the bottom. Don't worry. I won't leave you there too long. I am a merciful dragon. Master Malefor told me to kill you if I could, though he doubts I can. I must say, with these new powers, it can't be too hard. Your death will be swift. Oh, and by the way, once you're gone, I'll claim Renna as my prize. She will be mine now that you can't protect her anymore. Your family and friends will be the next to go, followed by any who oppose us. You should be honored to be the first." There was a darkness in his eyes that Wither had never seen before, but there was still a look of uncertainty, too. Though Wither wasn't quite sure Arragor could go through with his threat, he couldn't take the chance.

Wither looked to his parents, who were still pinned against the wall, then to his friends, who were all pinned to the ground by Arragor's powerful new magic. He looked back to Arragor and said, "The gods will have you for this. Not even the ancestors will be able to protect you from their wrath." Then he summoned up as much strength as he could and drew his parents, his friends, and himself into the Void, praying that Arragor couldn't follow them there.

" . . ."

". . . er . . ."

"Wi . . . er . . ."

"WITHER!"

Wither jumped up in surprise. His friends and his parents were all gathered around him, watching him. He realized that he must have passed out and tried to get up, but forgot that he couldn't get up in the Void. There was nothing to get up off of, so he willed himself to rise in what he perceived as a general upward direction even though space and distance were meaningless here. Once he was level with them, Elleca asked what everyone else was thinking. "Where are we?"

Wither spread his arms with a slight smile and said, "Welcome to my domain."

Renna looked around in awe and a hint of fear. "So this is the Void?"

"Not much to look at," scoffed Vera.

"It's a fixer upper," added Tera jokingly.

Wither puffed himself up in defense. "This is my world. I hold dominion over it and all within it."

"Which is nothing," teased Roxy.

"Don't underestimate the power of nothing," warned Wither.

After this playful exchange, the sound of two elders clearing their throats caught their attention. Spyro raised an eyebrow at the group of students and asked, "Have we all forgotten the circumstances that brought us here?"

The mood fizzled, and everyone became quiet again. Cynder tried to step forward, but when she failed to do so, she looked down in frustration at her feet that were flailing in place, walking on a non-existent ground. "How do you move in here?"

"Well, technically you don't, but I know what you mean. Try using someone else as a reference point, and imagine how you want to be positioned in relation to them."

"Thank you, Wither." Cynder floated between the students and kept moving her legs to make it appear as though she were walking. The timing wasn't perfect, and it made it look like she was moon walking, which got some laughs despite the seriousness of the situation. However, everyone snapped to attention when she continued her speech. "We may be safe in here, but what about everyone else? If Arragor could do that much damage to all of _us_, then think what he could do to the rest of Warfang."

Elleca interrupted the black dragoness for a moment. "What I want to know is how Arragor was not only able to get his powers back, but also come back stronger than ever, wearing freaky black armor, and capable of ignoring Wither's powers. And what did you mean when you said the Dark Master wanted to _teach_ you about your powers? I thought you were the first of your kind."

"All of these are excellent questions," admitted Spyro. "First off, while it's true that Wither is the first nothing dragon, that doesn't necessarily mean that he's the first dragon to learn about nothing and use it. What's the one kind of dragon that can learn any element? I'll give you a hint, you're all looking at one. Malefor was a Purple Dragon, too, and he created dark crystals before Wither. Maybe Malefor discovered the power of nothing all those years ago."

"Then why didn't he use it? He would have won!" exclaimed Cynder.

"Maybe he was still too new at it to understand it."

"That would explain why Arragor was able to negate my powers," said Wither. "I noticed that his armor was made of black crystal. He must have been the one who brought Malefor back. Now he's working for Malefor in exchange for power."

"But if that's the case then why didn't his armor drain everyone else?" asked Sora. It was the first thing she had said since the attack, and it surprised everyone, but it was an excellent question.

Wither thought for a minute then shook his head. "I don't know. Truth be told, I don't really fully understand how my power works. I think there's only one person who does."

Spyro floated up to everyone else now and took a place by Cynder. "There's still the matter of saving Warfang. Arragor could be doing anything right now. He surprised us earlier, but if we're ready for him, then taking him down should be doable. All we have to do is get close enough to smash his armor. I have a feeling it's the source of his power, otherwise he would be much larger like a fully grown dragon. So what do you say, Wither? Can you put us back in the arena?"

Wither lowered his head in thought, reluctant to put everyone back. What if Arragor was still there waiting for them? He didn't think he could drag that many people into the Void again. Not so soon. But his parents seemed confident that they could put Arragor in his place, so he closed his eyes and opened up the Void, setting them back down in the arena.

Thankfully, Arragor wasn't there anymore, but as soon as he came back to Warfang the citizens reconnected with his mind. "_Where have you all been!_" shouted Yarrow over the frenzy of every other mind shouting orders and screaming in fear.

The message was addressed to everyone, but Spyro took over. "_Arragor's back. He attacked us and nearly killed us, but Wither dragged us into the Void at the last minute to save us. There's something else. Malefor's back and he's got some nasty new tricks. It looks a lot like Wither's power, and he's shared quite a bit of it with Arragor. He's incredibly dangerous._"

"_No kidding! He attacked the city! He's been destroying everything in his path! No one can restrain him! I've done my best, but it's not enough! We need you!_"

"_We're on our way,_" assured Cynder.

"_He's making his way to the plaza, hurry!_" The link faded back into a buzz.

Spyro turned to the students, a stern look on his face. "Stay here. This will be extremely dangerous, and we don't know what all he's capable of."

"Yeah, like that's going to happen," retorted Wither.

"We don't need your help. Do as I say son." Then the two fabled dragons took to the skies. They circled the arena then took off toward the plaza.

When they were gone, Psy walked up beside Wither, never looking away from where his parents had disappeared, and asked, "So we're going to go watch, right?"

"I was thinking from the top of a tall building." Wither turned to his friends and asked, "Who wants to go? You don't have to if you don't want to, and I won't blame you if you want to stay here."

For a moment, no one said anything, but after everyone looked at each other, Renna took a step forward. "From the time I was just a hatchling I always drew attention. My status as a light dragon made me popular, and it was difficult to find out who my friends were, but once I had true friends, these friends, they respected me. They always followed me and for the most part, did what I told them to. I've always been a little uncomfortable thinking I was the leader of this group, but I was." She took a few steps closer to Wither and looked him in the eyes. "But when you came along and discovered your power and we all had those dreams, you became the leader. I don't know if you've realized it yet, but we're not just your friends. We respect you, Wither. You have incredible power, which means your decisions have incredible weight. I think I speak for everyone here when I say that you're our new leader, and we'll follow you anywhere. We'll do anything you ask of us. You have a kind heart, but you're not afraid to make harsh decisions when the situation calls for it. So far, you've demonstrated that we can all trust you as a reliable leader. I know you'll lead us on to do great things, not just for ourselves, but for everyone else in the world. There's a war going on, and you're our general."

When she finished, Wither stood for a moment, looking at her with mixed emotions. Then he slowly swiveled his gaze around to look at each of his friends. "Is this true?"

Sora stepped forward and smiled for the first time in a while and in a surprisingly loud and confident voice exclaimed, "'Til my heart stops beating and I've breathed my last, I will follow you into battle, neither knowing nor caring if I am to return!"

Everyone was shocked into silence by the normally shy Sora's strong words of devotion and friendship, but after it wore off, they all shouted in agreement. Tears found their way to the corners of Wither's eyes. All his life he grew up watching the youth from his roof, only wondering what it would be like to have friends. Now he was not only a friend to many, but an icon to all. He had finally begun to live up to his parents' names. When he regained his composure he said, "My friends . . . thank you. Now come. Gather 'round."

They all did as they were told, getting as close to him as they could. When they were tightly packed together, Wither was enveloped by an expanding black cloud, which poured out of his body until it covered the whole group. "What are we doing here again?" asked Roxy in confusion.

"Yeah, I thought we were going to watch the fight and jump in if necessary," said Elleca.

Wither smiled and said, "Calm down. This is just another way for me to teleport. Rather than shifting, I can take all of us there at once by taking a detour through the Void. It's everywhere and nowhere, so I can come in from anywhere and come out anywhere, too." True to his word, the Void receded as the world flowed back around them, leaving them standing on one of the tall buildings bordering the plaza. Roxy motioned them to the edge of the building where they crouched down and peeked over the edge to see what was going on.

About a block away, one of the buildings shuddered and a rumble shook the center of the city. Some of the elders could be seen circling it in anticipation. The building shook again and the elders dove down out of sight behind the buildings. Flashes and explosions could be seen above the buildings, and faint shouting could be heard coming from behind them. The fight was slowly working its way to the plaza where several citizens were still trying to run and hide. Wither still hadn't seen his parents yet, but he knew they would soon be in view once the fight was brought out into the open space of the plaza.

Suddenly, a low boom resounded across the square and Wind Master Valorie was thrown down a street away from the commotion and landed in a heap at the base of the stairs leading to the Council Chamber doors. The shouts were getting louder, and Valorie tried to respond to them, but was too shell shocked to get up. She was, however, able to look up in time to see a large red blast of fear energy fill up the street she had just been blown through. Arragor was right in the middle of the blast and ran in terror from Vivian, who gave chase with several of the other elders in tow.

Terrador shouted to the remaining citizens running about, "Everyone, get out of the plaza!"

By now, most had been able to slip down alleys and side streets, but a family of three was unable to escape before the other elders, previously hidden, blocked off all the escape routes. One of them shouted, "Please! Let us through!"

Shadow Master Noh stood his ground, warily eying Arragor, who turned to him expectantly, hoping for a way out of the trap. "I'm sorry, but it's too dangerous. We have to contain him."

Just then, Arragor leapt the impossible one hundred fifty feet in a single bound to land between the mother and father, grabbing the son and pulling him away. "No! Let him go!"

Arragor dragged him to the center of the plaza and began to whisper to him. "Take care! He has a hostage!" shouted Cyril. Four of the elders blocked the exits at the corners of the plaza while the other three surrounded Arragor. Valorie was still trying to move, but it was apparent that more than one of her legs was broken. Yarrow was in his garden still keeping up communications, and Spyro and Cynder were still nowhere to be seen. That left Noh, Hexus, Cyril, and Terrador guarding the exits and Vivian, Volteer, and Spire circling Arragor.

"We have to save that hostage," Wither whispered. "Maybe if I try to sweep him into the Void real quick, then the elders can take care of Arragor."

"I don't think that hostage necessarily needs rescuing," said Sora as she squinted down at the specks below. "That's Obsidius he's got."

It was true. Everyone else had been too worried about the whole event to focus on the details. The hostage was green and actually a lot larger than his captor. As he peered over the edge, Wither couldn't help but wonder what Arragor was whispering to Obsidius. Spire stepped closer and tried to calm Warfang's assailant. "Arragor? What happened to you? Where have you been?"

"I've been to the heart of the world and I've been blessed with power and good fortune."

"How has this happened?"

"Come with me father. Come with me, and earn a position of greatness in the new world."

"What do you mean?"

"I ran away from Warfang in shame when Wither cursed me, but in my travels I discovered the Dark Master. He required the wretched curse inside me to free himself from his infernal prison. Once he had it, he broke both our curses and granted me fantastic powers beyond my wildest dreams in exchange for my services. Together we will bring about the end of this world and in its place, build a new, perfect world. Come with me father! Master Malefor would be grateful for another general!"

At the mention of the Dark Master, all the elders froze. Spire looked at his son in horror. "No, it can't be. Stay here. Let us help you. You don't have to go back to him. Is he controlling you with that armor?"

Arragor bared his fangs. "No, father! I'm doing this because it's what's best! If you don't want to join us then you can fall under our unstoppable might along with all the other fools who won't bow down to us!"

Just then, a flash of purple light lanced down from the heavens. It would have struck Arragor if Spire hadn't jumped in the way at the last second. He landed on the other side of Arragor and didn't move. Arragor felt a twinge of pain in his chest. His father had saved him even though he had been so cruel to him. Spyro and Cynder descended from above the clouds and landed with the rest of the elders. Cynder shouted to Arragor in fury, "You let him go or next time I won't miss!"

"There's no one else willing to get in the way now, Arragor," said Spyro. "Let your friend go and come with us."

Arragor looked all around at the elders surrounding him. Then he began to laugh. The elders braced themselves for an attack, but it never came. Instead, Arragor let go of Obsidius who stood beside him without fear and made no attempt to escape. "What is this?" asked a bewildered Vivian.

Then Arragor raised his head up high and shouted for all to hear, "I am General War, the First Disciple! Feel my power!"

The black crystal armor around his body began to spark with tremendous amounts of energy. "Everybody get back!" shouted Volteer. The elders surrounding Arragor backed up to the others blocking the exits and raised their wings to shield themselves from a seemingly devastating blow.

However, the threat was a trick. Rather than unleashing a wave of destruction as predicted, Arragor channeled his power into a single point, condensing and compacting it until it could get no smaller. When it was no more than a pinprick of light, he touched the tip of a claw to it and slowly drew his paw down, tearing a huge gash in the air with his claw. "Stop him! He's trying to get away!" exclaimed Spyro, but it was too late. Arragor and Obsidius stepped through the rift and let it close behind them just before the elders could follow.

Spyro banged a fist on the ground in frustration. Cynder placed a paw on his shoulder to calm him down. When he was calm, he let out a sigh, and they both looked up to the roof where Wither and his friends watched.


	13. Chapter 12 Mysterious Intervention

Chapter 12- Mysterious Intervention

"You mind telling us what you're doing here?"

Spyro and Cynder had seen their students on the roof when they descended from above to face Arragor. They were now in the plaza scolding them for disobeying their order to stay in the arena. "We just wanted to observe our enemy to learn from him for future reference," explained Wither.

"Ah, and you had no intention of joining the fight if it got rough, did you?" asked Cynder with sarcasm.

Wither tried to defend himself and his friends for coming so close to the danger. "I don't think—"

"That's right," said Spyro, cutting him off. "You don't think. You put yourself and all your friends in danger, and what's more, you did it by doing something we specifically told you not to do. We'll talk about this later, but right now, we need to go speak with Yarrow." The elders began to walk toward the ancient's home, but when Wither didn't follow, Spyro turned around and said, "You're not exempt from this meeting. All of you come on. You need to be present for this."

Wither followed with his friends from a distance. When he judged that his parents were out of earshot, he turned to Renna. "Do you think I was wrong?"

She maneuvered herself beside him and turned to look him in the eyes. "You just wanted to help. There's nothing wrong with that. And besides, we were at a safe distance. There's no way he could have seen us from where we were. I think they're just upset because you didn't follow their orders as both your parents and your elders. They might think you have a little problem with authority, but I know you would have followed the order under less serious circumstances."

"But that's just the thing. The circumstances _were_ serious. Isn't that when we're supposed to follow our superiors' orders the most?"

Just then, Elleca popped up on his other side to answer his question. She got close so she could whisper it to him, drawing his attention away from Renna and causing him to miss the scowl on her face. "Hard times are when orders are least followed. If your parents tell you to go to sleep, or go to school, or eat your mushrooms, you do it. It's no big deal. But when lives are at stake and your intuition tells you to do the opposite of what you're told, you're faced with a dilemma. Rules are made to be broken. You just have to break them when you know it's right."

Wither took this into consideration and nodded with a smile. He picked up the pace and left the two females in his wake, not noticing the warring look that passed between them. Psy ran up beside Wither now, and Roxy took the other side. "It's weird isn't it?" asked Roxy.

"What is?" asked Wither.

"Roxy and I were talking, and we think it's strange how it's the middle of the day, and there's not a soul outside," commented Psy.

Wither took a look around and noticed the level of activity for the first time since breakfast. In contrast to the overzealous mood earlier that day, there was now truly nobody outside save them and the elders. Usually, there were dragons of all ages and elements going to and fro about the city. There were even occasional visitors from the other races with business in Warfang, but now it appeared as though the population was down to eighteen, eight children and ten elders, one of which was carried between two others.

Valorie had not woken up after passing out due to her extensive injuries. Cyril and Terrador were supporting her weight between them. Her condition was part of the reason why everyone was going to see Yarrow in person. The mental link was still up, but the buzz had all but disappeared. Everyone was hiding out and staying quiet. Red crystals weren't enough for Valorie. She was too badly damaged for that. She needed the healing powers of a life dragon to fix her.

When they got to the ancient's home, the group made its way through the garden to the pavilion at its center. Where once there was a fair sized building with a roof covering a wide open space, there was now a tangle of twisted vines wrapping around each other. These vines were covered in thorns to create an intimidating wall that sealed off the entire pavilion, blocking it from view and concealing the ancient inside it.

As they approached it, large vines as thick as an elder's tail burst out of the ground and danced about in the air in front of them. An impressively colored flower opened up nearby and the stamen inside it leaned toward them, twitching as though they were feeling the air for a target to touch. Then another plant revealed itself. It was the strangest thing Wither had ever seen in his life. Only the top of it was visible, the rest was underground. It was large and bulbous at the base, but narrowed at the top. It leaned forward like the flower off to the side and opened up, but instead of stamen, there was an eye inside.

Spyro looked into the eye and said, "It's us. Let us in." The eye closed up and ducked back underground. All of the other hostile plants receded, and the vines slid back a bit to reveal an opening in the thorn wall. One by one, the dragons stepped through the arching opening into the dome protecting Yarrow from the outside world. The inside was even more impressive than the outside. Roots ran across the floor from the wall all around the circle, leading to the center of the room. They twisted together to form a wooden dais upon which sat the ancient of Warfang. Vines ran across the ceiling like the roots below and wound around each other to form a giant column dipping down from the center of the roof, down on the figure frozen in place on the dais. The vines wrapped all around Yarrow, half holding him up, half resting him on the altar of roots. All around, the roots and vines glowed a faint, pale green, which grew brighter toward the center of the construct, and there, in the heart of it all, was Yarrow.

His head looked as though it would have been dipping low, were it not being held up by vines, which somehow wove under his neck without choking him. His wings were half open, held loosely by the vines, which also cradled his tail, keeping it from falling off the top tier of the four layered dais. His eyes were closed, and he glowed brightly like a bioluminescent plant, providing most of the light in the darkness of the sunlight suppressing dome.

Spyro motioned to Cyril and Terrador then turned back to Yarrow. "Yarrow, Wind Master Valorie was badly injured during the defense of Warfang today. Can you help her?"

Cyril and Terrador gently set Valorie down on the bottom tier of the altar and backed up. Yarrow's eyes shot open. They glowed brighter than all else in the room, acting as two glorious beacons in the center of the dome. They peered down at the broken dragoness resting beneath him on the altar of life. The roots at the base twitched and broke away from the structure they formed to wrap around her form. The top of the dais began to glow brightly for a moment before the light traveled down the tiers to the bottom level and into Valorie before disappearing. The roots then released her, assuming the shape of the altar again and then became still once more.

Yarrow's eyes drooped until they were half open. He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. As he did so, the plants all around rose slightly, then fell back into place. He opened his mouth to speak, and as he did so, it sounded like his voice came from everywhere. It came from him, but it was also in the walls, the floor, and the ceiling. It sounded like a thousand people speaking as one, which caused more than one dragon to shiver in awe. "Tell us what happened," the voices whispered and echoed for a moment. The plants vibrated lightly as Yarrow spoke.

Volteer took a step forward, looking up at the ancient. "Excuse me . . . us?"

Yarrow sighed again, closing his eyes. When he opened them again he said, "Sorry. In this state of symbiosis, we are one. You, me, the plants . . . excuse the slip of my tongue. Tell _me_ what happened."

Spyro took over again, explaining everything. He started with Wither's strange behavior in the arena and told of the frightening things he had done. He told of how Malefor had supposedly been resurrected by Arragor and possessed Wither. Then he gave an account of everything that happened up to the point of Arragor's escape with Obsidius.

Silence filled the room after he was finished as everyone took in the whole story. After a moment of thought, Yarrow replied, "This is most troubling. There are so many questions that we need answers to. The ones that appear most important are the ones concerning the Dark Master's ability to use Wither's element. He obviously made that armor for Arragor, but what I don't understand is where the power comes from and how it negates Wither's powers. The nature of the Void, as we understand it so far, is that it is nothing. It is everywhere and it is nowhere. It does not exist and yet it affects us in extraordinary ways when those who can control it are present. How can so much power arise from nothing? It breaks all the laws of reality. Arragor was so strong, but his strength is clearly that which the Void has to offer if it came from dark crystals. Granted, he used the power in ways Wither never has, but it couldn't have been anything else or it would have been drained away by the armor. This brings us to yet another question. Why _didn't_ anyone feel the draining effects of the crystal armor? The answers to these questions are probably very complicated and difficult to find, but we need them. The fact of the matter is we don't know enough about the Void. It is a key factor in this war, and we must do our best to obtain any and all knowledge on the subject. As for the abduction of Obsidius, where are his parents?"

"We told them we would get him back safe and sound and that they needed to go home and wait for the all clear signal," replied Noh.

"That is probably best. Arragor and Obsidius were friends as I recall. My guess is that Arragor has recruited him to work for Malefor. This is bad. If we have two of those crystal enhanced warlords attack us at the same time, we'll be hard pressed to repulse the assault. We have to be on the alert and be ready for them when they attack again. Next time no holding back. If we're swift and merciless, we just might quell this opposition before it grows out of control."

At this, Spire limped forward, still hurt from Cynder's fury, but able to move. "Yarrow, he's my son—"

"He's chosen his path, now he must follow it. There is no turning back to retrace your steps in life, but if Arragor is lucky, he will find his way back onto the right path again. Until then, no one is to hold out when against him or anyone with him in battle. Understood?"

Everyone nodded at the command. On the dais, Valorie groaned and opened her eyes halfway. Yarrow looked down and said, "Don't move, Valorie. The bones in your left wing have been pulverized, the ones in your right, fractured. Your fore left leg and rear right leg have been broken in several places. Your tail has been bent, and you have a hairline fracture in your skull. I have saved you from a coma by curing your concussion, and I saved you from shock. Your wounds are devastating and would normally never heal on their own, but I have imbued you with a sizable amount of power, which will quickly mend your wounds. However, you are currently in terrible shape and must not move. You are to stay here with me for the next few days while I fix you."

Valorie shook while she looked up at Yarrow, then laid her head back down and fell asleep. A few vines came away from Yarrow and tucked themselves under her head to keep it off the hard roots. Yarrow nodded as she wordlessly obeyed his orders to rest then looked back to Spire. "You appear to be hurt as well. Shall I take a look?"

Spire shuffled a bit in place, reluctant to let himself be examined when there were others in worse shape. "Come now, Spire," said Yarrow, hearing his thoughts and seeing the memories of what happened. "It could be worse than you realize. I'm surprised that you are still standing after taking the force from a full on Convexity blast. It is the greatest power we know."

The vines dropped from the ceiling to examine Spire, spreading out across his back and burrowing under the scales ever so slightly. Yarrow's eyes widened. "You have several broken disks in your neck and some internal bleeding. How you walked here, I will never know. Lie down on the dais. You will be joining Valorie for the rest of the day."

Spire did as he was told, allowing the roots and vines to wrap around him and give him strength. As he began to heal, Yarrow turned to the rest of the group. "So this is the plan as of now. Continue the preparations as before, continue to teach these young ones, but put more focus on Wither's power, stay on the lookout for Arragor and Obsidius, and look to your superiors for guidance." He looked at the children when he said this last part.

"I see that you hold Wither's decisions in high regard," he said as he peered into their minds. "In some cases, you would be willing to forsake the orders of your elders for Wither's. In some ways, this is good. You have selected a strong and competent leader, and the correct one according to the Chronicler's prophecy. However, wisdom and experience outweigh raw power. You need to respect your elder's orders to a certain degree. We don't give them lightly. Wither, I understand why you disobeyed your parents' orders, but I must ask you to use more caution when considering such action in the future. Use your best judgment. If you see that something is wrong with an order and you know in your heart that the best course of action is to go against it, then you won't regret the results, but if you are uncertain as to how to act, then just listen. We elders are not perfect, but we will not often lead you astray."

Wither nodded to show that he understood. His parents nodded too, and he knew that this conversation was over. Yarrow looked down at his patients with his glowing green eyes and said, "I must meditate now. Talking like this and keeping the connection strong is a difficult task. Go back to work now everyone. We still have much to do." With that, Yarrow closed his eyes again and went limp in the arms of the vines.

The vines parted behind everyone, and they all left the dome and the three dragons within. The thorn wall closed up again, and the hostile guard plants started to come alive with more activity again. The all clear signal was given out, and the elders went back to their duties overseeing and helping with the preparations. Spyro and Cynder led the children back to the arena to continue with the day's lessons.

On their way, Spyro and Cynder split the group into two sections. One would work with Spyro, and the other would work with Cynder. Wither, Psy, Renna, and Elleca would go with Spyro while Tera, Vera, Sora, and Roxy went with Cynder. "Great. I'm the only guy in my group," mumbled Roxy, which earned him a whack on the head with Elleca's tail.

Wither saw Renna and Elleca break off from the group a bit and begin to whisper to each other off to the side and tried to hear what they were saying. Due to the looks on their faces, it would have proved to be an interesting conversation, but he was too far away. Then he remembered something he had read in one of the library books. It said that people hear things when they vibrate. These vibrations were carried through the air as, it too, vibrated. When the vibrations reached the eardrum of a living creature, that's when sound was heard. The only problem was that over longer distances, the vibrations lost their intensity and became too soft to hear. So, Wither thought, all he'd have to do is make the vibrations of their voices closer to his ear. He knew how to do this, but it worked both ways, so he had to be careful not to make too much noise. He imagined the twenty or so feet between them was nothing like he normally did when shifting, but this time he only made a thin stream of nothingness. It ran between them like an invisible wire about an inch in diameter, and it moved with them to match their pace. When it was close enough, the vibrations of their voices traveled through the air, but also shot through the wire of nothing as if Wither were holding his ear directly to their mouths.

"-ine, so back off." That was Renna.

"You're just jealous of my talent."

"As if! I have lots of power. I'm a way better choice."

"So you're not afraid of a little competition?"

"Not from you. You have the wrong type of personality."

"And what's wrong with my personality?"

"You're too abrasive. There's nothing feminine about you."

Up until this point, Wither had assumed they were talking about who the better fighter was, but now he wasn't so sure. He knew he shouldn't listen anymore, so he held his mouth up to the invisible strand and whispered, "Ladies, no reason to fight."

Both girls jumped about a foot in the air and looked over at him with wide eyes filled with astonishment. This confused him, so he gave them an uneasy smile and waved a paw to make the thin line between them shimmer. "Hello," he said putting his mouth next to it. Once they understood what he had done, they immediately hid their faces and started to stumble along, trying not to look at him. Though he was young, Wither had learned at an early age from whispers from his dad that of all the mysteries the world had to offer, dragonesses were the greatest of them all. He didn't pretend to understand their behavior and instead told them, "We shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves in these hard times. Not unless it's sparring. What were you fighting about anyway? I came in mid conversation."

Both dragons displayed looks of profound relief, which confused him further. Then Renna spoke. "It was nothing."

"Ooh, my favorite subject. What about it?"

Renna scowled at his joke and said, "Just girl stuff."

"Didn't your parents ever teach you that eavesdropping is rude?" asked a miffed Elleca.

"Mm no, we didn't," said Spyro.

"He was never very stealthy as a pre-awakened youngling, and we never really thought he would be able to eavesdrop," added Cynder. "But now that you mention it, things have changed a bit." She turned to her son with a slight smile and said, "Wither, it's rude to eavesdrop. Especially when it's on two girls that made an obvious attempt to talk out of your earshot." Cynder winked at the two young dragonesses, which forced the scales around their faces to take on the color of a fear dragon.

Elleca began to ask, "How did you—"

"A mother sees, knows, and hears everything. Especially when it's about her child," said Cynder with another wink. Then she turned around and kept walking.

Now Wither was completely lost. They had acted so weird. Renna, Elleca, his mom . . . women. "You're right dad. Sometimes I don't get them at all."

Spyro's eyes widened, and he turned around to shush his big mouth of a son, but it was too late. Cynder had already clipped him in the back of his head with her wing. It was just a warning cuff, perhaps a warning to not teach their son that women were the bad guy. "What!" he asked in playful dismay. She merely gave him a look, and the rest was history. Wither had always thought it was a special kind of magic. Every time she gave him that look, he fell silent, and just like that, the conversation was over, and the problem was resolved. Everyone else present was enjoying the chance to observe the small squabble between two elders, and married ones at that. It gave them a tiny peek into Wither's home life, and they watched as Wither smiled and kept walking like nothing had happened.

Then he stopped walking and shifted. He popped up next to Psy and shouted, "Tag! You're it!" Then he shifted away. Psy stood there for a moment, baffled by his sudden 'it' status. Then he smirked and let out a huge cloud of shadows. It enveloped Tera and Vera, which made them complain about zero visibility.

"Tag! You're it!" shouted a victorious Psy.

"Hey!" yelled Tera as the shadows faded.

Spyro and Cynder turned around and looked at Wither. Spyro's eyes asked, 'Did you have to?' However, he said nothing to him, and instead, turned to the whole group. As he said, "Come on. No horse play. We have work to do," Tera tried to chase Sora. She was too quick for the red menace, but when shot by a blast from Tera's maw, she was frozen in fear, unable to move.

"Tag! You're it!"

Spyro grew angry and was about to shout when Cynder tugged on his shoulder and whispered to him. The anger left his eyes and was replaced by an analytical look of observation. He watched as Sora blew a huge gale into Renna's wings to knock her over and tag her. Then Renna blinded Elleca to tag her, who then paralyzed Vera to catch her. Spyro smiled and turned to Cynder to nod in approval. Then he shouted, "Hey!" Everyone stopped running around and turned to Spyro with their tails between their legs. Once he had their attention, he dropped the serious act and allowed himself a smile. The students relaxed a bit when they saw this and waited to hear what he had to say. "After observing your game, Cynder and I feel that it's a good way for you to practice your fighting skills. You have some creative ways to catch each other. If you can apply these skills to an actual fight, then I suppose we can allow you to play tag for your training today. Thank you for the interesting idea, Wither, but tomorrow we start back on our schedule again."

The rest of the day was spent running around the arena trying to not be 'it.' Spyro and Cynder just watched and enjoyed the game, making note of how well each student did. Elleca was extremely fast and almost never caught. Only through elemental trickery was anyone able to catch her. Roxy, on the other hand, was slow and often an easy target. His large body was strong and muscular, but not exactly built for speed. He avoided many tags by making flimsy walls just thick enough to stop a young dragon from breaking through. Hiding behind them, he ran away so that by the time his attacker ran around, he was already too far away to bother with. Sora was surprisingly fast. As a wind dragon, she was nimble like a cat. Her sleek, slender form was astoundingly aerodynamic and allowed her to not only run, but fly much faster than most of her peers. Not many young dragons could fly too well, but Sora was a natural and often used the advantage to hover well out of reach. Tera and Vera were about as average as it got between the group. They both appeared bright, but didn't exactly seem like geniuses. They weren't the fastest among their friends, but could run a bit longer than most. Their elemental abilities were average too. Due to all these things, Spyro and Cynder determined that they were the most well rounded among the group. They had nothing special that defined them like Elleca's speed, Sora's flight, Roxy's strength, and Renna's, Psy's, and Wither's powers. Rather, they seemed to be second best at everything, making them the standard for everyone to go by. The only special skill they could boast was their connection to each other, which prevented them from trying to tag each other. They always knew what the other was thinking and so catching one another would prove almost impossible. Psy and Renna were on the same level in their game of tag just below Elleca. They were difficult to catch and even more so to escape from. Psy used his shadows to blind his foes and Renna blinded hers with an overdose of light.

The only one that was better than Elleca was Wither. For all of Elleca's unparalleled speed, it was no match for his shifting ability. Every time someone tried to catch him, he shifted to the other side of the arena. He maintained this strategy, hanging out at the edge of the circle and disappearing to the other end several hundred feet across the way. This irked his friends a bit, and they tried to plot against him, attacking him all at once with their combined forces. Nothing stopped him from making his getaway through the nothingness that connected his current position to his destination.

After several hours of play, everyone was getting tired, and no one had tagged Wither yet. They all met in the center of the arena in a huddle and made a quick plan, which Wither tried to listen in on, but failed since the plan was made too quickly. Elleca held out her paw and Roxy tagged her. She faced Wither and took a deep breath. She eyed him, calculating and estimating. After a moment, she began to walk toward him at a normal pace. He became suspicious and prepared to shift, but she wasn't running, so he still had plenty of time to get away. When she was about twenty feet away she stopped, sensing that Wither was uncomfortable with the distance and ready to shift. She eyed him again and took in several deep breaths, holding them for a few seconds, and then letting them out slowly. When she was calm and collected, she hunkered down low to the ground, leaving her hind end in the air. Her tail whipped around expectantly and she said, "New record, right here, right now."

Then she burst forward like a bullet. Wither yelped in surprise and quickly shifted to the other end of the arena just as she was about five feet away. He started to laugh in triumph as he emerged from thin air, but was instantly thrown to the ground by a large object that collided with him from behind. When he landed on the ground, it was still on top of him, and it shouted, "Tag! You're it!"

Wither turned his head and looked up to see Elleca beaming with pride, standing on top of her elusive victim. She had been so fast he hadn't had time to close the nothingness. "You're too slow! You shouldn't have let me get so close! I jumped right through your nothing stream, and might I say, what a rush! I can see why you love shifting so much."

Then she brought her head closer as if to whisper something to him, but Spyro said, "You can get off him now, Elleca." She appeared slightly ruffled at this, but quickly recovered and let Wither up.

Spyro and Cynder had climbed down out of the stands now and were making their way over to the children in the arena. They both appeared pleased, and Spyro told Cynder she could make the comments on performance. "Well done, well done everyone. That was most enjoyable and enlightening to watch. It gave Spyro and me the opportunity to evaluate your skills even further. To help motivate you in the days to come, we have decided to rank you in terms of performance. We'll start you all off based on what we have gleaned from our battles and your game today. Everything shall stay the same as before. Roxy, you're at the bottom. You're quite skilled, but you're among the best of the best here. Work hard and you might see yourself ascend in rank. Vera, you're next, then you, Tera. It was a close match between the two of you. You're very similar, and ranking you was difficult. Next is Sora, and then Psy. Second and third place are also exceedingly difficult to judge, but after a while of discussing it, we believe that Elleca should take third and Renna gets second, leaving our very own son, Wither, with number one, by a long shot."

Renna winked at Wither and held up a paw with two digits raised, while Elleca smoldered in her own silent envy at taking third beneath Renna. Psy wrapped his tail around Sora's and drew her close to him, saying, "Ah yes, middle of the road. Best place to be, really. Not too low to have more expected of us and not too high to have high expectations placed on us. Can you say easy street?"

"Don't forget we split you into groups," warned Spyro. "Starting tomorrow, you're at the bottom of your group, Psy, and Sora is at the top of hers. There will be no 'middle of the road,' and your very best effort is expected out of all of you."

Psy let go of Sora and twirled a claw in a circle in the air unenthusiastically groaning, "Yay," causing Sora to hide a rare, but quiet giggle with a paw at his silliness.

"Tomorrow is a big day everyone, so go home and get some rest. Today was all about evaluation. Tomorrow is when the actual training begins. You're all free to go now. Bye."

All the young dragons walked home, saying their goodbyes. When they were gone, Wither looked up at his parents and said, "Oh, this day . . ."

"I know what you mean, Wither," said Spyro in a worried tone. "The world is ready for war. The first battle was today, here in our very own city. We've been thinking, and since Arragor can pop up pretty much anywhere like you, maybe you should sleep in our room again."

"But I haven't slept with you since I was six!"

Cynder thought about this for a moment then replied, "We know, but you should at least do it tonight since he might come back while we're asleep. If he doesn't come during the night, then you can sleep in your room again if you want to, but for tonight, it's probably best to be extra cautious."

Wither thought about it. It would be weird. He was twelve now. If anyone knew he slept with his parents again, they would think he was a loser, but he knew his parents wouldn't tell anyone, so he agreed, and together they shifted up to his parents' room. He didn't come in here often and felt out of place. The room was massive, much larger than his. The ceiling was a good thirty feet from the floor and was flecked with spots of gold that sparkled slightly as he moved. The floor was a swirled mass of purple and black. Marble, he believed they had called it, but interior décor was never his thing. There were torches lining the walls, several bookshelves, two large windows at the back wall and a mirror that was often used by his mother. There were also many artifacts pressed up against the sides of the room such as: maps of the world, scrolls that were sealed to contain powerful spells used by those who controlled different magic than that which dragons wielded, a strange cylindrical device said to be used for stargazing, glass orbs resting in sockets in the floor lining the room, and a myriad of other fascinating objects. A mountain of pillows even larger than his were piled in the center of the room next to a table a few feet away with another smaller glass orb and several books on top of it.

Once he finished looking around, he noticed that his parents were walking back toward the doorway. They stopped on either side of it and placed their paws on the two glass orbs beside the doorway. Cynder's turned bright green and Spyro's shone orange. They began going around the room, skipping every other orb and charging them in a sequence. Spyro did orange, yellow, blue, dark green, and then back to orange. Cynder did light green, black, red, white, and then back to light green. They made their way around the room and met in the back of the room opposite of the doorway. Then they passed each other and began charging all the orbs the other had skipped. Once they charged all the orbs, the room flashed quickly and was normal again. The orbs glowed in their sockets, cycling through the eight different elements before starting over again. "There. That should protect us from anything and everything," said Spyro.

"But not nothing," said Wither with skepticism in his voice.

"We have you for that," said Cynder. "We'll handle everything and you can deal with any nothing problems that may occur. If our defenses fail, it's up to you to take us to the Void, but don't worry. This is merely precautionary. I doubt we'll have anything to worry about."

"What about this orb? You didn't light it." Wither pointed to the small orb on the table.

Spyro smiled and let out a tiny jolt of electricity, lighting up the desk with bright, yellow light. "That one's just a fancy lantern to read by at night."

Wither moved a few of the cushions and climbed on top to reach the top of the table. "What's this?" he asked curiously, reaching for an open book to pull it closer.

Cynder pulled it away and put it on one of the shelves as high as it could go. "You're not really old enough to read that one," she said nervously, grinning at Spyro whose eyes widened at the thought of his son looking at the pages of the book they had been exploring the night before. Before the book was shelved, Wither caught a glimpse of a male dragon caressing a female on the cover. He decided not to think about it too much.

His parents settled down in the cushions as Wither made his own separate bed by the table. "So what all are we doing tomorrow?" asked the inquisitive youngster.

"You'll find out tomorrow with everyone else," replied Spyro.

"Aw, come on. I don't get a little heads up?"

"Just because we're your parents doesn't mean you get any special treatment," said Cynder. "If anyone got special treatment, you're the one who needs it the least."

"No fair."

"Life's not fair," replied his mother in an amused tone. She and Spyro watched their son as he turned in place, making several circles before finally lying down on his own makeshift bed.

After a quick exchange of looks between them, Spyro placed a paw on Cynder's and said, "Wither, about what happened earlier today. . ."

Their son immediately froze, his muscles visibly clenching as the words struck him. Casting his gaze to the side, he asked, "What about it?"

Spyro chose his next words with care, slowly forming the question that plagued both his and Cynder's minds. "How much do you remember about that?"

"All of it."

"Okay. We want you to know that we don't blame you for what you did, seeing as you weren't in control of your own body or emotions. I think it's time we've apologized for keeping you shut up in this house for so long. In the end, it did more harm than good."

Letting out a sigh, Wither said, "You don't have to apologize. I'm not really mad at you for that—"

Cynder held up a paw for silence before saying, "Wither, you can't hide your feelings anymore. We know they're there. Malefor's possessions don't imbue you with hatred. He takes what darkness has already gathered in one's heart and brings it to the surface, amplifies it, and uses it to his advantage. You wouldn't have said those things if you didn't feel that way deep down inside."

Wither kneaded his claws on the cushion in front of him before whispering, "I try not to care . . . I really do."

Spyro leaned forward and replied, "You're such a strong dragon, Wither. You have a good heart. I think you got these things from us, but that doesn't mean we didn't hurt you, and it doesn't mean you're not allowed to feel sad, or upset, or even angry. We accept that we made a mistake by keeping you from the world for so long, and we really are sorry.

"The thing is, Yarrow advised against it. We should have listened to him. He's far older than us and, therefore, much wiser. He told us we could consult him for anything concerning childrearing, seeing as we are so young ourselves. As you know, birthing season among dragons only rolls around once every one hundred years like clockwork, and every dragon egg hatches on the same day. However, it has been proven that in times of crisis, if the dragon population dwindles too low, the magic in our blood recognizes the need to repopulate and gives our bodies the go ahead to create the next generation early. Normally, your mother and I wouldn't have had the opportunity to have a child for another sixty-five years, but this generation was an exception due to the fact that Malefor embarked on a genocide of the dragon race.

"The elders told us when everyone felt the change come over us that we were probably too young to have a child, but we did it anyway because we were so eager to start a family of our own, and we didn't want to have to wait for another hundred years."

Wither shook his head and replied, "But the cheetahs and moles have children when they're your age. Why's that any different?"

Cynder looked down and said, "That was our reasoning at the time, too, but you have to put it into perspective. Moles and cheetahs only live about a twelfth of the time we do. Having you at the age we did would be like them having a kid at the age of two or so if they were physically capable of doing so. At that age, they're nowhere near ready for a child."

"But we mature at the same rate as they do. Even faster at the beginning, actually."

"That's true, but dragons are meant to have children no earlier than the age of a hundred. That's why nature normally makes it that way. The point is, while we don't regret having you for a second, we think maybe we are a bit too young to be raising you the best we can without listening to _our_ elders. We're sorry for any and all of the mistakes we've made with you, but we want you to know that we will always love you. From now on, we'll listen more to what Yarrow has to say. We need the advice."

The corners of Wither's eyes were glistening at the end of this speech. He gave a little sniff and rubbed the moisture away with a paw before nodding and saying, "If that's the case, then of course I forgive you. I had no idea. It feels so good to finally have a good reason not to feel bitter anymore. Thanks mom and dad. You have my thanks for apologizing, and for what it's worth, I love you, too. I'm sorry I almost made you kill dad, mom."

Giving her son a sad smile, Cynder replied, "That's okay. It really wasn't your fault. We know you wouldn't have done that on your own. Now get some sleep. You'll need all your strength for tomorrow." Cynder laid her head down on Spyro's paws, and he laid his across her neck.

Wither put out the little lantern on the table by sucking the power out, leaving them in the soft glow of the defense orbs. "Good night." The three fell asleep and lay undisturbed for the rest of the night.

When they woke the next day, they went to the roof for breakfast. Spyro incinerated Wither's last breakfast, which he had failed to finish in his haste to get to class. Cynder blew the ashes off the roof with a gust of wind that sent them cascading down into the street. Spyro then thawed out some food he kept frozen, and the three feasted on it until they were full. The rest was frozen again, and Wither shifted them to the arena as per his parents' request. Renna and Sora were already there, talking to pass the time. When the three appeared in the center of the arena, they both got up and left the stands to talk with the new arrivals.

"Hey," said Renna in greeting. "No one else is here yet. They should be showing up any moment now. Oh look, there's Tera and Vera now." Everyone looked and saw that the twins were heading through one of the arena's entrances.

"We still have about ten minutes before class starts," said Cynder.

"Hey everyone," said Tera.

"Ready for today?" asked Vera.

"What are we doing today?" whispered Renna in curiosity to Wither.

"Heck if I know. They won't tell me anything. Something about not favoring their son in the classroom," he said, raising his eyebrows at them. They said nothing in return.

After another minute, Psy joined them and said his hellos to everyone. The last to show up were Roxy and Elleca, who were less than a minute shy of being late. "Glad you could join us," said Spyro.

"She takes forev— ow!" Roxy took a wing to the face. Elleca managed to pass it off as early morning stretching and even threw in a yawn for good measure.

"Well, now that we're all here, let's get started," said Cynder. "In case you can't remember, Roxy, Tera, Vera, and Sora are with me. Everyone else goes with Spyro. Alright, everyone in my group, follow me." Cynder led her group over to one side of the arena and Spyro took his to the other side, leaving plenty of space between the two groups.

When they were settled, Spyro said, "Well, Cynder's grouping them into pairs, but I don't think that will work with this group. The three of you," he said, pointing at Renna, Elleca, and Psy, "Are going to fight him." Wither looked at the claw pointed at him, then dropped his gaze to his friends and grinned. They looked a little dismayed at the notion of having to fight Wither. Seeing this, Spyro said, "It's either him or me."

They thought about it and decided that another fight with the legendary Purple Dragon minus four helpers would be rough. "Wither it is," said Psy. Spyro laughed and backed up toward the stands.

When he told them to begin, all three of them tried to blast Wither with their elements, only to watch the wasted energy go right through him. He stood still for a moment, pondering his strategy. After a few seconds, he decided on Psy and began to drain him through mere thought alone. Psy began to wobble, his knees buckling under his suddenly very heavy body. "Psst, Wither. Hey, Wither."

Elleca was whispering to him from off to the side, making quite a distraction. This coupled with the fact that draining someone through thought required quite a bit of focus began to weigh heavily on his mind. On top of all this, his nonexistent state taxed his mind enough to send it over the edge. He tried to do too much at once and lost control. Several things happened. One, Wither stopped draining Psy. Two, Wither turned existent. Three, he turned to Elleca shouting, "What!" The fourth thing that happened taught him a lesson he would never forget. As he turned toward Elleca, he turned away from Renna. By the time he had his back to her, she could see that he was no longer transparent. She took the opportunity to blast the vulnerable and distracted dragon in the back with an intense beam of light. However, she was so afraid that he would notice his vulnerability and she would lose her chance to get a hit on him, that in her haste, she forgot to hold back.

It didn't just burn his scales. It gave him instant, extreme sunburn. He screamed and fell to the ground, both shocked by the pain and the fact that he had been hit. Everyone in the arena stopped what they were doing and looked at him in surprise. Tera and Vera were in mid strike, watching him curl up in pain. After a moment of holding tears in, he stood up stiffly and turned to look at Renna. She backed up a step, but was unable to avoid what happened next.

Wither opened his maw and let out a billowing mass of black clouds, allowing the nothingness to roll over her and completely engulf her tiny frame. It washed over her in an instant. The wave of nothing only lasted for a few seconds before Wither felt a sharp pain in his head and blacked out.

When he came to, his mother was holding a red crystal to his head. She didn't look too pleased. "Are you alright?"

Wither got up, but his head still throbbed, and his back was killing him. He saw his friends staring at him and he asked, "What happened?"

They didn't say anything, which unsettled him. He turned and saw his dad leaning over Renna. He had a combination of large red and green crystals clustered all around her and was channeling their energy into her. She was frightening to look at. She too had passed out, but for different reasons. The bright luster in her scales was completely gone. They still had their color, but she was pale and looked really sick. After a moment, she came around, too. Spyro asked her if she was feeling well, to which she nodded weakly. He looked up at Cynder, a worried look on his face. Then he turned his gaze down to Wither, and it adopted a different look. A mixture of anger and disappointment marred his face as he said, "Too much, Wither. Too much."

Wither gulped and looked back at Renna. He felt as sick as she looked. "I'm so sorry. I just meant to—" Cynder placed her paw on his shoulder to get his attention and shook her head.

After several minutes, Renna was able to stand, though she was shaky. "Are you alright?" asked Spyro.

"I-I'm f-f-fine," she stuttered as she shivered in place.

"Are you sure?" She nodded again. "You know, while Wither should have had a little more self-control than that, you did earn that. You're just lucky I was able to hit him in the head with that rock before he could drain you away completely. You struck too strongly, and he acted out of anger. You're both at fault for this incident, so you will not be punished if you apologize to each other."

Wither jumped at the opportunity to make amends. "Renna, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to be so strong with my attack. I was just in a lot of pain. I can't believe I actually almost . . . I didn't know I could . . ." He started crying at the thought of what he had almost done and surely would have carried out had his father not prevented it. It didn't matter that it was an accident to him. No, he hadn't meant to try to end her life, and everyone knew that, but he _almost_ did it. It was just too close for him to bear.

Renna smiled weakly and hobbled over to Wither, almost falling once or twice. Spyro tried to help her, but she pushed him away and made the trip on her own. When she got there, she was so tired she had to lean on him for support. "It's okay, Wither. I forgive you. It was my fault anyway." She paused to catch her breath. "I tried to win the fight by getting in a good hit while you were vulnerable. How many opportunities would we have gotten to do that again?" She took a few more breaths and sat down, a bit more stable now. "I'm sorry, Wither. I shouldn't have used my full force on you. I need to save it for Arragor. You've saved me from him several times. I know you like me and I care about you too, so it would be foolish to let this get between us."

Wither whispered in his anguish, "I didn't mean to—"

"Shh, I know you didn't. It's okay. Just don't do it again, alright?" She weakly punched him in the shoulder and started laughing.

This made Wither laugh a little, too, and he wiped the tears from his eyes, saying. "Well, even though what I did was worse, I forgive you for what you did, too. I wish I could give you your energy back."

"Can't you?"

"Hey. You know? I think I can. The Void works both ways doesn't it? Although I haven't really tested that very much." Wither closed his eyes and felt for the power in the Void. He was confused, however, when he couldn't find it. "Huh, that's weird. I thought I could do it. I remember taking a stone and a crystal back out of the Void before." He tried to pull one of the green crystals he had absorbed out of the Void, but it didn't come. He opened his eyes and his mouth fell open. "I don't feel anything I've ever put in there. I don't understand, I could do it before, I just didn't try it that much."

"That's odd," said Spyro. "I will tell Yarrow about this, but for now, we should all get back to work."

"Wait," everyone stopped and turned to Wither. He looked at his friends and said, "You must think I'm a terrible dragon—"

"Oh, stop," interrupted Psy. "Everyone makes mistakes. You don't have to apologize to us. We wouldn't be very loyal friends if we didn't forgive you for your first one. Besides, if Renna can forgive you so easily, we have no business to not do so ourselves. Am I right?" Everyone smiled at Wither and nodded. "There you have it. Now come on. Let's finish what we started. I almost had you."

"I had you at your knees!"

"That's not how I remember it. We'll have to have a do over. Only this time, let's dim it down to sparring strength, 'k?"

Everyone went back to their places. Wither knew that all was well again and looked at Renna with another apologetic smile. She flashed a smile at him, too, showing off her dazzling teeth, and he knew that everything was okay again.

"Five minutes in and you two are already trying to kill each other," joked Spyro. "Do be more careful, and Wither, I want to comment on what happened during the fight. Yarrow told you not to be overconfident. Now you see what happens when you are? We've found your weakness, it seems. When fighting one dragon, no matter how powerful or experienced they are, you're probably going to win every time, but when faced by only a few of your peers, you try too much at once and lose control. Stay focused and don't let anything distract you in a fight. As for the rest of you, remember now that Wither isn't untouchable. If you do your best, you might distract him and get him. No offense to you son, but he's not very strong physically. If you can get a hit on him, it does quite a bit of damage. The hard part is actually getting a hit on him. Try to surround him and attack from all sides. Your job is to distract Wither and make him vulnerable." He turned and looked at Wither now. "You job is to not let them do that. Your strength lies within your power. If you let them take that away, even for a moment, you have nothing."

"Uh, well . . ."

"Oh Wither, you know what I mean. Now get ready, get set, go!"

For the next three days, their training commenced. They fought each other, learned from their mistakes, improved on their weaknesses, and learned new elemental attacks to practice. It was on the third day after Arragor's attack when Spyro and Cynder told their students to take a break. A meal was hunted down and brought to them for lunch. After the meal, Spyro and Cynder told their students to take a break while they checked up on everyone else's progress on the defenses. The pair took to the skies and flew off to the edge of Warfang.

The group left the arena to walk and talk for a while. They were all pleased with how much they had improved over the past few days. They felt a bit more experienced despite only having three days so far. Elleca walked beside Wither and asked, "So what do you do in your spare time?"

Wither snorted out a quick laugh and asked, "What spare time? We start training when we wake up, then finish and go to bed."

"Wow, you must go to bed pretty early. I stay up another two hours or so before going to bed."

"Doing what?"

"I don't know. Just talking to Roxy I guess."

"Oh, am I so boring?" asked Roxy in irritation.

Elleca ignored him and kept talking to Wither. "So you just eat, sleep, and train? Isn't that boring?"

"No, I spend my whole day with all my friends. I don't know about you, but that sounds good to me."

"I agree with Wither on that one," said Renna.

Wither nodded, saying, "See? Renna gets it. We should just enjoy our training and think of it like playing when we're sparring." Wither didn't see Renna's head raise in victory behind him. "Besides, we need the training for when we get attacked." Just as he finished saying this, he felt a strange feeling course through his entire being. He stopped and looked off in the direction where he sensed the feeling was coming from. Something about it felt familiar. There was a faint hint of it in the air the day Arragor attacked. His eyes widened as he suddenly realized what he was somehow able to feel. Before anyone could notice his odd behavior, a low boom echoed through the city and the mental link began to buzz with activity.

"Speak of the devil," said Psy as they looked all around. They were in an empty street away from the commotion, but sounds could be heard all around them.

"_Wither!_"

"_Dad_?"

"_Listen to me! Arragor's back and he's brought Obsidius with him. They're both wearing that special armor, so stay away from them, but I want you and your friends to spy on them since you probably will anyway. See if you can figure out what they want. They appear to be searching for something._"

"_Will do. Watch them, stay hidden. Got it._" The link died down and Wither turned to his friends to say, "Guys, let's go."

He didn't have to say it twice. In a second, everyone was packed around him. They passed through the Void and came out on Wither's roof where they could get a good vantage point and assess where the intruders were. He heard another boom and saw a dust cloud rise up into the air. After a quick rest, he took them there and sat down to catch another break after moving that many dragons. His friends looked over the edge of the roof and saw Arragor and Obsidius searching the crowd of fleeing dragons. The occasional hero tried to stand up to them, but was either blown away by Arragor's flick of the wrist or pulverized by a powerful sonic roar that escaped Obsidius's maw.

Arragor looked up and saw some of the elders descending from the sky. He turned to Obsidius and shouted, "Come on! We have to find him! Quickly!"

Vera whispered over her shoulder, "They're looking for some_one_."

Wither relayed this information to his parents. After a pause, he heard his mother reply, "_Perhaps they're going after one of their friends. Arragor took Obsidius. Why not one of the other two?_"

"_That seems most likely_," said Spyro. "_Follow them, but don't engage them . . . yet. If we can't get there before they find who they're looking for, try to attack them from a distance without exposing yourselves. We can't let them take any more recruits. We'll be there in just a minute._"

"There he is!" shouted Arragor. He lifted a paw and made a motion like he was drawing something in. Through the crowd flew a yellow dragon that was shouting and jerking around in midair in an attempt to escape the invisible force that carried him. It was Xath. "Hold still you idiot. We're not going to hurt you. We're friends, remember?"

Xath calmed down and was set down beside Arragor. "That's better. Now, I have a proposition for you."

Just then, Cyril shot ice shards down on the evil duo. Obsidius protected Arragor by blasting away the attack and the attackers with sonic roars powered by his armor, while Arragor talked to Xath.

"We have no choice," said Wither. "My parents will be here any second. Let's keep them from taking Xath. Go!"

Fearing that elemental attacks at this distance would harm innocent people, the eight young dragons leapt off the small two story building and landed on the three below. Sora and Wither dragged Xath away while the others got in several surprise attacks. Roxy pounded on Obsidius's armor, busting the crystal helmet, while Psy blinded him so that he could keep at it. Renna blinded Arragor and Tera and Vera went to work on him as well. However, despite their strength and the advantage of having the element of surprise, Arragor spread his wings and let out a roar, releasing a rippling pulse that blew the attackers against the nearby buildings. Once free, Obsidius let out another ear busting roar, although it seemed less powerful this time, to keep the closing elders at bay.

Arragor seemed furious. "That armor is sacred!" He lifted Wither up with his paw movements and pounded him down on the ground, face up. There was nothing he could do while pinned to the ground. He tried to shift, but before he could, Obsidius concentrated all his power on Wither. The armor sent forth a surge of strange energy that filled him up. With all the energy coursing through his body, Wither couldn't drain it from himself fast enough to work up enough nothing to shift.

Arragor held everyone in place so that they could watch. "This ends now! No more running away! You're dead!" As if in slow motion, Wither watched as Arragor charged at him. His claws were extended and then sheathed in glowing crimson energy from his armor. Wither tried to shout, but was too frightened. He could only watch as Arragor leapt up into the air and soared toward him, moving in for the kill. Wither heard many people screaming and shouting in protest, but nothing could stop Arragor now.

Then the impossible happened. Arragor stopped. He didn't stop trying to kill Wither, but he did stop, in midair, actually. The surge of energy from Obsidius stopped, too. It dissipated from Wither's body as he drained it away. He got up, no longer pinned to the ground and inspected Arragor's body, frozen in midair, posed for the kill. Then he realized that it was unnaturally quiet. There was no sound coming from anywhere. Not a word was spoken, not a footfall sounded, the wind wasn't even blowing through the streets anymore.

He walked through the street and looked around. Arragor wasn't the only one who had stopped. Everyone was frozen in place. It was as if the entire world had stopped turning. He saw the elders in the sky, firing waves of fury down to crush Arragor. He saw all of his friends crying out to the empty spot he had been pinned to. Renna was actually crying. Down the street, he saw his mother and father covered in darkness, their white eyes drilling into Arragor with pure unbridled hatred. All around, it was as if time had stopped, except for Wither. "What is this?" he asked himself in dazed wonder.

"A second chance," said a voice that sounded older than time itself.

Wither spun around, looking for the source of the voice, but saw nothing. "Who's there? What's going on?"

"I'm not your babysitter. Don't make me do this again. I normally leave everything well enough alone, but there's something special about you. I couldn't just let a holy son of N-Vor die at the paws of a power hungry traitor, flaunting around in _your_ gift, and sporting the name of one of the most wretched beings to ever defile the land we call home."

The voice was extremely old sounding, definitely from an ancient, and it was female, too. "Who are you? And what do you mean, 'holy son of N-Vor?'"

"Don't you worry about who I am. You'll find out in time, though I do hate visitors. As for your origins, you wouldn't know now, would you? Everyone seems to have forgotten over the millennia."

"I don't understand. I'm the son of Spyro the legendary Purple Dragon and Cynder the fabled Black Dragon."

"Well, of course you are you dolt. I didn't mean literally . . . ugh. This is why I never talk to anyone. It's always questions, questions, questions. No one understands my meaning anymore. I have to explain every other word that comes out of my mouth." A slight pause followed these words before the voice continued in a calmer, almost dreamy sounding tone. "I have waited so long for you to come. There were times when I almost believed you never would, but here you are. You're smaller than I expected."

"Gee, thanks. Where are you?"

The voice suddenly switched back to its almost angry and huffy tone again, saying, "Haven't you been listening boy? I said later! Humph, this is one of the reasons why I hate interfering. Too many questions. Now prepare yourself. You only get a few seconds."

"A few seconds of what?"

Suddenly, the world exploded with noise and movement again. Arragor struck the ground where Wither had been, tearing huge gashes in the stone. The elders' fury waves struck the ground behind Arragor, knocking him tail over head with the shockwave. Everyone jumped in surprise as Wither instantly popped from the ground to the building where Renna was pinned. All of his friends were released when Arragor was knocked into the air and stared in confusion at Wither. Spyro and Cynder returned to normal once they saw that their son wasn't about to die like they had thought.

While everyone was distracted, Arragor and Obsidius worked together to quickly build up the energy to form a rift. They both ran through it with Xath and closed it behind them.

Everyone stood in place, looking at the spot where they disappeared. Then out of the silence, "What just happened?" Wither turned to look at Psy. He tried to answer his question, but just ended up shaking his head in confusion. He gave Psy a look that said he knew little more than everyone else. Then he was tackled by a sobbing Renna that wouldn't for the life of her let go of him.


	14. Chapter 13 Reinforcements

Chapter 13- Reinforcements

"Renna . . . I can't . . . breathe." Wither gave a cough and began to wheeze for air. If he thought Renna's reaction was constricting, he was about to get a nasty surprise. Everyone rushed him after a few moments. His friends surrounded him, asking if he was okay. Next came the elders who only added to the commotion, making Wither feel like he was being crushed by people. After just a few seconds, his parents made their way through the mass to get to their son.

"Let the poor boy go, Renna," said Cynder. "Or do _you_ want to be the death of him?" His parents grabbed ahold of him and pawed at his scales as if they had to touch him to make sure he was really alive, after prying Renna off of him that is.

Spyro got in Wither's face and said, "Don't ever do that again! We almost lost you there."

Wither was still in shock from what had happened. Nothing anyone was saying was registering at all. Even a bright glare conjured up by Renna in an attempt to bring him back to reality failed. He just stood in place, unfazed by anything going on around him. "What's wrong Wither?" By now, everyone noticed that something was amiss and grew quiet.

Spyro and Cynder looked at him and inspected him for injuries to make sure he hadn't gone into shock. After finding nothing, Cynder asked him, "Are you alright?"

His eyes were out of focus like he was looking at something far off in the distance. His mother stared into them with worry in her face. "He's totally unresponsive," said Cynder as she sat back in thought.

"He spoke just a moment ago," said Renna. Then Wither squinted and raised a paw up as though to shield his face.

"Gah! Renna! What the heck?"

Everyone stared at him in confusion. "That is the biggest delayed reaction I have ever seen in my life," said Psy trying to poke fun at Wither.

Wither seemed to shake violently and then said, "Yes, I think we should."

"What?" This question came from everyone except Spyro.

The Purple Dragon's mouth dropped open a bit as he stared at his son with suspicion. "I was just about to say we should go see Yarrow." Spyro leaned toward his son to test him.

"Yes," said Wither for no apparent reason.

"Can you hear me?" asked Spyro.

"Two. Why? I'm fine."

"How many claws am I holding up?" Spyro brought out the two claws he had already been holding up behind his back.

"What?" asked Wither with a frustrated tone, looking at his mother now.

"Wither?" asked Cynder with worry evident in her voice.

Just then, Wither shivered again and looked around. "Why are you all acting so weird?" His friends, elders, and parents were all staring at him with a mixture of confusion, wonder, and amazement. When no one answered, he raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth a bit, turning his head to look at his parents with one exasperated, questioning eye.

Now Spyro asked again, "Can you hear me?"

"How many times do you plan on asking me that?" asked Wither with mounting frustration.

"Something strange is happening to you, Wither," said Cynder.

"What do you mean?" Wither shivered again. "Once again, I agree with you. Maybe he won't be so weird like all of you. Huh? You've already asked me that several times. Two. Yes! I can hear you! Will you stop asking me that already? What is this, Déjà Vu? You already said that, too. What's wrong with me?" He shivered again and said, "What? Aren't you going to answer me? Am I going crazy or what? I'm not crippled. I can walk."

After everyone watched this frightening one sided replay of their previous conversation, Spyro leaned toward Cynder and said, "I think we should carry him to Yarrow's. He doesn't appear to be in any condition to walk."

Wither began to struggle and complain. "Hey! What are you doing? Let me go!"

Spyro wrapped his arms around Wither's midsection and flew up into the air with him. "I'll take him to Yarrow's. Meet me there." Then he took off, carrying the seemingly broken Wither with him.

Inside Wither's mind, he was confused beyond words. Everyone was trying to have the same conversation with him twice. It had already happened a few times. Something was wrong. Ever since time had stopped during the fight, he felt like everyone was off, like the world hadn't been put back together right. While his father was carrying him to Yarrow's house, he watched below him as he made the journey. Parts of it were skipped and other parts played out twice. He closed his eyes, scared of what was happening. "Hey! If you're listening, everything is broken! Fix it!" The voice from earlier didn't respond. Whoever it was, they weren't with him anymore.

By the time everyone got to Yarrow's garden, Wither was looking around with wide, crazy eyes. He wondered if he was doomed to forever live in a broken world. Everyone rushed into the dome, taking him with them. When they were before Yarrow again, everyone began to talk.

Back on the constant timeline, Spyro was explaining Wither's bizarre condition to Yarrow, asking for some sort of diagnosis and perhaps a possible cure. Yarrow looked at Wither and said, "Get used to everyone asking you this. Can you hear me?" Wither said nothing. Instead, he stared back and forth between Spyro and Yarrow. After a bit of this Yarrow said, "He appears to be listening to our previous conversation. So you said the order was future, present, past, and back again?"

"Yes. That appears to be the pattern," said a flustered Cynder.

"Then next is future."

Everyone watched while Wither looked down at the floor and back up again, probably listening to what was happening to him. Then he shivered and said, "Yes."

Yarrow leaned forward and asked, "Can you hear me now?"

"Oh, I see."

"You seem to be in a state of time flux, going from the past, to the future, to the present, and then back again, going through a loop."

Halfway through this explanation, Wither asked, "How do we fix it?" Yarrow kept saying everything even though Wither eliminated the need to by responding to everything before it was said. Yarrow figured it would eliminate any paradoxes like Wither responding to something that was never said. When he finished his explanation, Wither said, "Okay, will do."

Then Yarrow said, "You're in the future right now, so your next session should be in the present. To avoid confusion, let's only speak while you're in the present."

"Wither said, "Yes," and shivered.

"Can you hear me?" asked Yarrow.

"You just asked me that," replied Wither in confusion.

"No, I didn't. You heard me ask you in the future before I actually asked you."

"That's confusing."

"Yes, it is. Now be quiet for a moment while I use this opportunity to lay down conversational rules. You will hear all of this again in the past. There's no need to respond to it. Ignore every replay of conversations. Also, when you're in the future, you'll hear me ask 'can you hear me?' twice. The first time will be in the future, the second time in the present. This should clear up most conversational confusion. Understood?"

Wither nodded that he understood. After a few seconds, he shivered again. He looked at Yarrow and almost said 'yes,' but remembered the rules and just stood in place, waiting for the next session. After a few moments, he shivered again. Spyro looked a little closer when he did so and saw that he was actually moving at phenomenal speed in place to catch up on the past few minutes in a second. Wither sat and waited. After another minute of waiting, Wither looked up to Yarrow and said, "Yes." As expected, he shivered.

"Can you hear me?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Do you know how this happened to you?"

Wither quickly explained the strange events that took place in the city. He told Yarrow how he had almost died, how time had stopped, and he described how an old woman spoke to him, but did not reveal herself. He spoke just fast enough to get it all out before he shivered again. Everyone pondered over this information carefully while Wither relived the last few minutes of his life. When he shivered again Yarrow said, "Just be quiet while you're stuck in the future or it's too confusing. What you just told us is worth a considerable amount of investigation, but first, we need to fix you. From what I've heard, it sounds like you've been touched by a time dragon's power, a rare gift indeed, but sometimes, if it's done incorrectly, this can happen. It's a rare condition called ripple shock. You are sheathed in a residual time field, which is in a state of flux, causing you to shift in and out of different time frames."

Wither shivered again and asked, "How do we fix it?"

At this, Yarrow looked a bit worried. "Time dragons are rare. There have only been two dragons that have ever had time as their specific element. The first was named Celest. She was born over ten thousand years ago during the time of the first dragons. She gave birth to the second and only other time dragon, Eon, who long ago claimed that he wished to travel to the beginning of time. He never returned."

After this, Wither shivered again. Everyone waited while Wither went through his cycle back to the present. When he returned, Yarrow continued. "After the disappearance of her son, Celest wrapped herself in a unique time field that kept her in the present, but profoundly slowed down her aging process. After a couple millennia, her husband, Willow, the first life dragon, died of old age. Left with nothing, she flew away and left the world far behind. No one ever heard from her again. It was assumed that she died, but from what you're telling me, she saved you and is still alive somewhere, perhaps living in solitude.

"The legends tell of when Eon was still learning how to use his power. Every now and then, he made mistakes that his mother had to fix. He would move time the wrong way and cause it to ripple. Ripple shock was the result of such mistakes."

Wither shivered again, taking all the information in a second time. When he cycled back to the present, he asked, "What does this have to do with a cure?"

"I'm getting to that. After a time, Eon became almost as skilled as his mother and was able to cure ripple shock when it occurred, but he disappeared many millennia ago. The only other dragon ever recorded being able to cure ripple shock was Celest. We know she's alive, but we don't know where she is."

"We don't have the time to go find some dragon no one has seen in eight thousand years!" shouted Cynder. She turned to Spyro in earnest. "You're the Purple Dragon. You've told me you were able to tap into your time controlling powers before. Can't you fix him?"

Spyro shook his head, "I'm sorry. I barely dipped into the power of time, and that was so long ago. I haven't tried it much since. I'm not capable of curing this ripple shock." Spyro turned to Yarrow and asked, "Does it eventually wear off on its own?"

"No. I'm afraid that the time field sustains its own energy. Time energy is different than most. It is constant."

Wither shivered again, but spoke anyway. "But wait . . . it _is_ energy, right? Why didn't you say so before?" Wither began to concentrate on the field around him, trying to drain off the energy. After a few moments, he sighed. "It didn't work. Why can't I drain away the energy?"

After he shivered again Yarrow said, "I told you time energy is different from most others. Time flows all around us. It's everywhere, making its possibilities and abundance limitless, much like your nothing is because the Void is everywhere and nowhere."

After waiting a few moments to make sure Yarrow was done, Wither said, "Right then. The Void. . . yes. All things are meaningless there. It doesn't exist and therefore nothing can exist within it. Even time must fall away within the Void. I'll be right back."

"Wait!" shouted Yarrow. "You need to wait until your mind is in the present. There could be a slight chance that if you did it now, you'd come back stuck in the future."

Wither sighed halfway through the explanation and waited for his next shiver. When it passed, he stood and said, "Hope this works. Be back in a minute."

The Void snatched him up and blew the world and everything in it away. All laws of reality fell away and became meaningless. Wither felt a wonderful feeling of something covering him being lifted away and dragged into the endless abyss. He sighed in relief and returned to the dome with all his friends and elders. They stared at him expectantly and he flashed them a smile. "Tada! No more ripple shock! Funny how my element negates all others one way or another."

"We're glad to have you back to normal," said Yarrow, smiling at his relieved parents. Now there's the matter of this 'son of N-Vor' business."

Wither looked up at Yarrow with curiosity and said, "Yeah, what did that mean? Do you know, Yarrow?"

"I do. Are you not familiar with the dragon gods?"

"I know of them, but I don't know _about_ them."

"It doesn't matter. Our lessons concerning the origin of all things were meant for later in the year anyway. Do you at least know their names?"

"Sorry. . . no."

"For thousands of years, our kind has maintained the belief that there are four dragon gods responsible for the creation of all the dragons and pretty much everything else in the world. K-Stl, the youngest of the gods, is the God of Justice. She is in charge of giving everyone their dues and is responsible for the creation of the first fire, ice, lightning, and earth dragons. L-Kin is the God of Courage. He teaches us to be brave in the face of danger and to be strong so that we may fight for what is right. The first shadow, poison, wind, and fear dragons were born by his word. J-Zrd is the God of Temperance. He brought balance and order to the world and stands for moderation and self-control. His own life force went into the creation of the first light, life, time, and purple dragons. The last and oldest of the dragon gods is N-Vor, the God of Prudence. N-Vor teaches practicality and priority. Without his influence, everything would be thrown into a state of utter chaos. However, no one can recount anything from ancient dragon lore relating to what kind of dragons N-Vor gave birth to. It was always assumed by our theologians that N-Vor acted as an overseer above his siblings and never actually created any kind of dragon, but what Celest said refutes this quite strongly.

"She was not born by a mother and father like the rest of us. She was crafted by the loving paws of J-Zrd. She has all the memories of the time of creation and should know better than anyone, the truth of our origins. Everyone seems to have forgotten some crucial details concerning the time of creation over the years, and only she can remember everything. Wither, I think it's safe to say that just as your father is a son of J-Zrd and you mother is a daughter of L-Kin, you are a son of N-Vor."

"But what does that mean?"

"I can't say. Although, I imagine that you shall someday find out. It is your destiny, your legacy. All deserve the right to know their origins. The gods, should they exist beyond our beliefs, will not deny you this. Now we need to get on with our second order of business. Arragor almost killed you with Obsidius' help. How did this happen?"

Wither thought back to the attack. He remembered Arragor closing in and the feeling of Obsidius' strange power filling him up, preventing him from using his nothing. He described this to Yarrow in depth, and when he was finished, Yarrow nodded. "It seems we've discovered another one of your weaknesses. Most dragons require the magic power that slowly regenerates from within us. It comes from our sparks and allows us to use our elements. Green crystals are natural concentrations of this energy and allow us to regenerate immediately. Without this energy there is nothing to fuel our power. However, you are not like most dragons. Remember that contact with the green crystals weakened you. While most dragons find an infusion of power invigorating, you find it inhibiting. Your element specifically requires zero power, as your element is the absence of energy. It appears that forcefully giving you massive doses of energy that would super charge a normal dragon actually negates your unique abilities."

"Right. I couldn't drain the energy away fast enough to bring myself down to nothing so I could shift. But Yarrow, the energy felt different . . . like it was coming from somewhere else."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, but it definitely wasn't the power of the green crystals."

"Hmm, the power must be connected to that black crystal armor somehow. In the past, Malefor's crystals took power away and your crystal still does, but now his only give power. Have you figured out a way to draw energy from the Void yet?"

Wither shook his head in frustration. "There is no energy in the Void. That's how it works. You can't get something from nothing. The only things the Void is filled with are things that never were and things you can't get back."

Yarrow twitched at this comment and seemed to think for a moment before moving on. "It seems the prophecy is growing. Now it appears that you are destined to track down one of the greatest dragons ever born, Celest the Everlasting. But until then, we need to prepare for what's ahead. It is obvious now that Arragor plans on tracking down his friends and recruiting them for the Dark Master's evil plans. He's already captured Obsidius and now Xath. Spire, who did Arragor consider his friends?"

Spire shuffled a bit, looking uncomfortable. "He didn't have many. It was always just him, Obsidius, Xath, and Zar."

Yarrow waited for more names. When none were given, he blinked and said, "Very well. As of now, we maintain that the training of these young ones is our first priority, and the preparations for war are priority two. Now we have a new priority. I want all of the elder dragons in Warfang to protect Zar at all times with the exception of myself, Spyro, Cynder, and Valorie until she is fully mended."

Everyone looked down at the sleeping dragoness. She was glowing softly with Yarrow's power in the damaged areas. Her head and wings were already fixed, but her legs were still in bad shape, and her tail her was bent at an odd angle. Yarrow looked up from his charge and continued. "We have three of those monstrosities to worry about now. If we're not careful, there will soon be four. We must begin the patrol of Zar's house immediately. The threat is mounting. If you see those three young ones again, kill them on sight."

Everyone in the room grew grim at the idea. As one of the oldest and wisest dragons alive, all of Yarrow's decisions were held in the highest regard. Since he was also known for his kind and gentle nature, the severity of the situation became profoundly obvious once everyone heard Yarrow give his sentence. Spire adopted a vacant expression much like the one Wither wore in battle. It was clear that his son's death sentence had killed a part of him deep down inside. Now he appeared empty and broken, but he, too, wordlessly nodded along with the elders to show his agreement.

Up on top of his altar, Yarrow breathed a heavy sigh and continued. "The fact that there are two such beings enhanced with Malefor's dark magic is quite troubling. We haven't faced an army yet and already we have suffered the temporary loss of an elder. Imagine what three will be like. We cannot allow a fourth to be born. From this day forth, we must use the ancient armor crafted for dragon kind long ago. Its powers will enhance our abilities so that we may defeat these rebellious youngsters with their minimal training and control, hiding in their crystal armor. I hereby give my permission for the armory to be opened. Let our enemies feel our might."

The vines behind the group parted, signaling that the meeting was over. The elders took to the skies. Their first stop was the armory. Once they suited up, they planned to assume their posts to defend the next likely target to be turned against them. Spyro and Cynder led their students back to the arena and ran them ragged. By the end of the day, they were all sore from the rigorous exercises they had been put through. When Psy said something about not being able to feel his feet, Cynder replied, "No pain, no gain. Walk it off and be a man."

They were almost too weary to walk home and became envious like never before when Wither said, "Ah man, I'm so tired. You guys destroyed us today. Oh well, at least I don't have to walk home. Good luck everybody else!" He shifted, leaving his friends in a slightly foul mood. For once, even Elleca was reduced to a slow limp home, followed by Roxy who was almost crawling behind her. As a strong earth dragon, he wasn't as affected by the physical strain as everyone else, but he was still tired and had to half shout for Elleca to wait up for him.

The next day, Wither awoke to the sound of tiny buzzing wings flitting around the room. When he opened his eyes, he saw his Uncle Sparx hovering an inch from his face. Caught by surprise, he jumped back and shouted, "Gah! What are you doing here?"

His uncle scowled at him and said, "Oh, nice to see you too, my little nephew. How am I doing? Good, thanks for asking. Haven't seen you in a few months, thought I'd stop in and say hello."

"Well, it's really random to have you show up now and in the morning. Were you watching me sleep or what? That's pretty creepy, and you still haven't answered my question. What are you doing here? And don't say, 'I thought I'd stop in and say hello.'"

By now, their conversation had woken up his parents, and they just laid there for a moment, observing the exchange. After a bit, Spyro turned to Cynder and said, "I think they fight worse than you two."

"He definitely gets it honest," replied the perturbed dragonfly as he turned his attention to the couple still lying in their bed.

Cynder lowered her head to gaze directly at little intruder. "And what, might I ask, is the reason for entering our house, let alone our bedchamber, unannounced?"

The glowing bug backed up a bit and held out his hands in exasperation. "What? You told me to tell you when they arrived."

"When who arrived?" yawned Wither in curiosity.

"The cheetahs, duh. You know . . . the furry guys with the clothes, and the weapons, and the opposable thumbs that you so sadly lack," said Sparx while waving his thumbs in the air. "It was my job to go tell them that the world's getting ready to rumble again and that they could get front row seats to the show here if they acted fast and got in line. So they hightailed it out of their village, and now they're knocking on the city's front door, wanting in."

At this, Spyro and Cynder got up and began climbing down the stairs. Spyro asked, "Is Hunter among them?"

"Yeah, and so is his kid. That boy is a wild thing, let me tell you. Oh man, Hunter taught him some seriously mad skills. I saw him sparring when I got to their village. He was taking on the rest of the kids in the whole valley and he dominated all of 'em! Hoo wee, I'd hate to have to fight that kid."

"Hmm, perhaps the cheetahs can join us in the arena to train with us," said Cynder.

"I'll let 'em know you offered and tell them you're coming to open the gates," said Sparx before zooming away and out of sight."

Spyro turned to see his son following them down the stairs. "Go to the arena, Wither. Tell your friends what's going on, and wait for us there. We shouldn't be too long."

Wither was a bit reluctant due to his curiosity, but obeyed the request and followed the steps back up the roof. His parents then decided that the roof would be a quicker exit and followed him. Spyro thawed some meat for Wither, and together, his parents took to the skies. Once he was finished with his meal, he made his way to the arena.

Spyro and Cynder opened the gates, letting in their longtime allies. The cheetahs smiled as they entered the city, but gasped and held their heads upon crossing the threshold. "Do not fear, that was simply the city connecting to you," said Spyro. "Everyone's connected mentally through dragon magic." The cheetahs nodded and whispered to each other in amazement at the dragons' powers.

Through the crowd, stepped their old friend, Hunter. He had a young cheetah following behind him. "Greetings!" he shouted to them. "The last time I saw you two, you were the ones looking up at me! My, how you've grown. This is my son, Wy Lee."

The young cheetah stepped forward and gave a bow. "My father has told me much about dragons, especially you two. It's an honor to meet such masters in the art of mortal combat."

"I've taught my son everything I know about fighting. In just a short amount of time, he surpassed even my skill. He has unbelievable instincts in battle and has the best mind in our whole village. The boy's extremely acrobatic, athletic, and intelligent. A natural born leader, this one. He should make an excellent addition to the army you're forming here at Warfang. Now where is the arena Sparx told us about? Our people would like to begin training right away."

"Your people don't mess around when it comes to martial arts, do you?" asked Cynder in a pleased tone. "Perhaps some of your children can even spar with ours. Come, the arena is this way."

XXX

Wither shifted to the arena where his friends sat, waiting for class to begin. "Hey, there he is. Where are your parents?" asked Roxy.

"The cheetahs have come to Warfang. My mom and dad are letting them in. They said they might join us in the arena today."

His friends thought about it and decided that it would be an interesting experience. "I think it's a great idea," said Renna with excitement. "I've only seen a few cheetahs in my life. They don't come to Warfang often."

"I wonder what their fighting styles are like?" wondered Elleca.

"They're not magical like we are," said Vera.

"They're probably not that dangerous," added Tera.

"I wouldn't underestimate the abilities of non-magical beings," replied Sora. Just because they can't do some of the things we can, doesn't mean they can't put up a fight. We dragons have magical properties and tend to rely on them. While our physical capabilities may be good, I hear the cheetahs' are superb."

"Yeah, just like the fact that the moles built us this huge city," added Psy. "They're small and weak physically and don't have any magic, but they're super smart and capable of building amazing defense mechanisms."

"Exactly," said Sora, nodding at Psy.

"I wonder if we'll meet the famous cheetah, Hunter, who helped your parents in the last war," wondered Renna.

"Probably," said Wither. "I heard that he has a son too and that he's some kind of fighting prodigy. He might join us here in the arena every now and then, now that he's here."

"That's a neat idea!" replied Elleca with enthusiasm. "I would love to spar with a cheetah. I hope they come here to train with us often."

Wither looked up at the sky. It was a bright and sunny day. There weren't too many clouds, but enough to mercifully drift in front of the sun for a moment of shade. Today would be a good day to spar with the new arrivals, should they decide to come. The children began to stretch themselves out to prepare for the new day's exertions.

XXX

Along the way to the arena, Spyro and Cynder caught Hunter and the rest of the cheetahs up on what was happening. They started with their son's dreams, and by the time they had finished explaining that Malefor was back and using a strange new power to create several generals for the coming war, Hunter was looking a bit grim around the mouth.

"If all of this is true then we must be prepared. I can still remember all that the Dark Master is capable of. Now you say he has new found strength and is sharing it with others. This is terrible news indeed. I thought our worries with the Dark Master were over when you defeated him those twenty years ago."

"Well, for whatever reason, it seems providence has given him yet another chance in this world," said Spyro.

"You know what they say", replied Cynder. "The third time's a charm."

"And do we have some wonderful new students to join the fray," remarked Spyro with hope and excitement in his eyes. The whole group entered the arena and greeted the children inside. The cheetahs spread out and began to stretch with the partners they planned on sparring with. Spyro and Cynder took Hunter and his son to the children watching the procession of newcomers in awe. Spyro began to introduce the students, pointing to each one in kind. "This is Roxy, Tera, Vera, Sora, Psy, Elleca, Renna, and our son, Wither."

Hunter gave a small bow and said, "Hello everyone. My name is Hunter." He then turned to Wither and said, "I helped your mother and father put Malefor away the last time he escaped. They're amazing warlords of the highest caliber, your father being the legendary Purple Dragon and your mother, the fabled Black Dragon. It is an honor to meet the offspring of two such dragons. I assume you have inherited their majesty? I do not recognize your scale color. What is your element?"

Cynder answered for him. "Indeed, Wither is at the top of the class, and you wouldn't recognize his coloring because he is wielder of a whole new element that has just been discovered. He is the first of his kind, a true prodigy on the battlefield. The unique nature of his element puts him above even most of our elders, which you know are the strongest of the dragons in Warfang."

Hunter's eyes widened to show that he was clearly impressed. "You sound a lot like _my_ son. Why don't you introduce yourself?"

Hunter turned to let his son step forward. He had orange fur with the usual black markings that cheetahs had, but there was an odd mark on his forehead. It looked like an uppercase Y printed in red. He was dressed in the strange garments the cheetahs called clothes. A dust colored cloak hung from his shoulders with a shirt clearly designed to blend in with green surroundings hiding underneath. The shirt was tucked into a belt with several pouches, which kept dirt brown pants up around his waist. He wore fingerless, leathery gloves with metal studs at the knuckles and had a long, metal staff strapped to his back.

The staff was a wonder in itself. There were black lines painted down the length of the staff that stretched from one end to the other. They turned at ninety degree angles at different intervals along the staff to run around it and would then continue down the shaft. Some of the lines took their turns and then stopped a quarter of the way down the staff, ending in small circles the size of pebbles. One end of the staff came to a sharp, narrow point. The other end had a large sphere with needle like spikes protruding from it at nearly every angle. The heavy looking end that resembled a flail or club of some sort rested above his left shoulder, and the end with the blade hovered above the ground to his right.

As he stepped forward, a clinking sound was heard underfoot. The young dragons looked down to see that he was wearing metal shoes with cleats for traction, which was odd because normally cheetahs hated covering their feet and preferred to go barefoot.

Aside from all these odd adornments, he was also well built. The clothes hung loosely around his lean yet muscular form, hiding his perfectly toned body and giving him a deceivingly meager look. He looked into Wither's dull, grey eyes with his piercing, blue ones and said, "Hello, my name is Wy Lee. My friends shortened it to one name to make things easy. You can call me Wylee."

"A pleasure to meet you," said Wither.

"Likewise. I have a feeling we'll be great friends."

"That's an interesting staff. Where'd you get it?" asked Renna, half stepping around him to get a better look at it.

"I made it."

"You _made_ it?" asked Psy in an unusually surprised sounding tone.

Hunter placed a paw on his son's shoulder, pride apparent on his face. "Wylee is not only the most skilled fighter in our tribe, he's the most intelligent. He has made devices to aid him in almost any task. In my opinion, this staff, which he has named the Vallion Staff, is his crowning creation. I have seen its wonders and the way he handles it. It's truly a sight to behold. I won't spoil the surprise for you. Why don't we have our children spar? It would be a good way to show everyone what the other is capable of, and it would be a change of pace for both of them to fight someone from another species."

Wither looked at Wylee and shook his head. Spyro grimaced and said, "No disrespect to you or your son, Hunter, but Wither is not a fair match for him. A more suitable partner would be Elleca. I think such a pairing would be an interesting bout to observe."

Hunter and Wylee both eyed Wither nervously. Hunter slowly said, "No disrespect to you or your son either, but I have to wonder how he could best my son."

"Trust me, it would be no contest," replied Spyro.

Wylee turned his attention to Wither again and inspected him much more closely than he had at first. After a moment, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "I give up. You appear small in stature even for a dragon your age. Your wings don't appear strong enough to pick you up yet. Your scales don't show the color of any of the dragon elements known among my people. You don't appear to have anything going for you to be quite honest. Your looks must be very deceiving."

Wither allowed a small smile to work its way across his face and said, "I have a feeling you use that same quality to your advantage as well."

"I do . . . are you sure you could beat me?"

"Just fight Elleca. You'll have the opportunity to see my skills in battle soon enough."

"Quite right," said Spyro, standing up straight. "After the battle between Wylee and Elleca, you and I will have at it."

Everyone perked up at these words. "Really?" asked Wither in surprise.

"What kind of power must he wield that would make you believe that's a fair match?" asked Hunter.

Spyro grinned at his old friend and said, "It's really not a fair match." Hunter seemed to understand that Spyro was saying it would only be for practice for his son until the Purple Dragon continued to say, "I probably won't be able to take him down on my own."

Hunter and Wylee turned ever so slowly until they were staring at Spyro with unbelieving eyes. They both knew all the legends pertaining to the Purple Dragon and didn't understand how something could surpass such power. They narrowed their gazes and everyone turned again to look at Wither. He shuffled around a bit before shouting, "What!"

Everyone looked away uncomfortably after realizing that they had been staring. Then Wylee clapped his paws together and changed the subject. "Okay, so how about that match? I've always wanted to spar with a dragon."

Elleca turned to face Wylee and gave him a quick look up and down. "So you think you're good enough to face me?"

Wylee gave a small chuckle and said, "A lightning dragon? Perfect." He reached over his shoulder and pulled his staff out of its holster. The spear end swung in an arc over his head and came to rest in the air between them, pointed at Elleca. The cheetahs in the arena started shouting that Wylee was going to fight a dragon, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and run to the stands to watch the fight play out. After the rest of the dragons and Hunter took their seats, Spyro told them they could begin.

As usual, Elleca started off by charging her foe at full speed. What she hadn't counted on was Wylee's naturally exceptional speed as a cheetah. He dashed to the side and clubbed her in the back with the heavy looking end of his staff. She staggered to prevent herself from falling and turned to look at Wylee. He was crouched slightly and twirling his staff around his body. The two began to circle each other at a slow pace. Knowing that her quick thinking was being put to the test now that she was faced with an enemy equally fast or possibly even faster than her, Elleca took great care in planning her next move. While she was thinking of a way to get a hit on Wylee, he lunged at her just as fast as she had before. She dodged out of his way like he had done to her, but she couldn't escape his staff's reach fast enough and received a small gash in her side from the spear end.

Cheers erupted from the cheetahs in the stands, but the dragons only observed in silence. Elleca turned to face Wylee again. She eyed his staff and figured that if she was going to defeat him, she would have to make him part with it somehow. She dashed at him again and turned and rolled when she got close. He saw her coming and tried to slash her again, but as she rolled under the swinging staff, she wrapped her tail around the instrument and tugged on it with all her might as she righted herself. However, Wylee refused to let his weapon be taken from him and used his surprisingly superior strength to tug it back. Elleca expected this and had already let go with her tail and grabbed it with a paw. Wylee's exertion on the staff pulled her toward him. She slashed at him with her free paw, but was cast aside as he jolted the staff to a vertical position. She landed on her front paws and did a cartwheel, wrapping her tail around the staff again. This time, her momentum was enough to knock Wylee off balance as he maintained his grip on the weapon.

As she pulled him to the side, she rocked back midway through her cartwheel and placed a well-aimed rear paw on the staff, pulling it and Wylee to the ground. On her way back up to a standing position, she head butted him with enough force to make him loosen his grip on his prized weapon. She kicked backward as hard as she could and pulled the staff out of one of his hands. She allowed herself a grin, thinking she finally had the upper hand, but as Wylee pulled himself back from the head butt, he pulled a little ball out of one of the pouches around his waist. He tossed it into Elleca's face, and it exploded in a cloud of smoke.

The attack caught her by surprise and caused her to run away, coughing in the sooty air. Wylee grabbed his staff and pointed the spear end at Elleca. Before she could recover from the smoke, he placed a finger on one of the circles that decorated the staff. The tip shot out of the staff like a giant bullet, still connected to the staff by a thin, metal coil. He pushed another circle on the instrument and the tip opened up in midflight. Three separate sections opened up from the middle seconds before impact, and once it struck her in the neck, he released the second control, and the arms closed around her, revealing previously hidden hinges that flexed the arms so that they could grab her. He pushed the first circle again and the tip pulled her in toward him. Just before the tip fully retracted, he released her and brought the club end down on her head.

At first, it looked like the fight was over, but Elleca surprised everyone by dashing backward, away from Wylee. Her chest and head were both bleeding from her wounds, but she looking more angry than hurt. She took a deep breath inward, preparing to give Wylee enough juice to paralyze him for hours. He pointed the spear at her and whispered, "Do it."

She obliged. A massive jolt of electricity surged toward Wylee faster than the eye could see, but it didn't reach its mark. Elleca's stream struck the tip of the staff and coursed through the shaft. "Come on, all of it," urged Wylee.

Elleca realized that her attack was having no effect on him and stopped before she used up all her magic. Her jaw dropped when Wylee pressed another circle and the tip sparked with electricity. "What the—!"

Wylee silenced her by striking the ground with the tip of the staff. A crackling noise filled the air, and a bright flash blinded those staring directly at it for a moment. When the audience looked again, there was a black, burnt streak on the ground at Wylee's feet. "Your element has no effect on me so long as I have my staff."

Elleca took a step back. Her foe was just as fast as her, his fighting skills outmatched her own, he had to be even smarter than her, and know she knew he could negate her elemental attacks. That left her with only one option. "Come on, Elleca! You can do it!"

She felt her spirits rise at the sound of Roxy's cheers. After a moment of mental preparation, she began to twitch and jerk in place. Wylee wondered briefly if he had hurt her too much with the blow to her head, but then he saw the charge building up as electricity danced around her body. He aimed his staff at her again, not knowing what she was doing. Hunter leaned over the railing and shouted, "That won't work, Wylee! It's a fury attack!"

Wylee looked at Elleca again and saw that she was pulsing with more and more energy every second . . . more energy than his staff could absorb. Making a quick decision, he tapped the toe of his left shoe against the ground. The cleats retracted into it, making the bottom smooth and sleek. He launched the tip of the spear at the wall behind Elleca and stuck it in deep before lifting his right foot and pushing the button to retract the tip. Instead of bracing himself to pull out the spear, he slid toward Elleca at top speed. He kicked her in the face with his cleated shoe and slid past her.

Unfortunately for Wylee, he was a little too late. Elleca had already built up a charge strong enough to unleash a fury attack. When he kicked her in the face, she was knocked unconscious and lost control of the energy. It was released in a wave that spread outward in all directions. Wylee escaped most of it, but was caught up in the edge of it. It threw him through the air and dashed him against the wall at breakneck speed, knocking him unconscious as well.

In just a moment, all was quiet. Neither contender moved, which was the signal for Spyro to get up and grab one of the red crystals off to the side. At first, he tended to the wound on her head. Once that was healed, he got to work on the cuts on her chest and side. Hunter left the stands to check on his son, though there was nothing he could do to wake him immediately like Spyro did Elleca. Luckily, seeing as Wylee was a strong, young cheetah, he woke up on his own not too long after Elleca. Hunter helped him to his feet and watched as Wylee stumbled over to Elleca, still holding his head. He almost fell, but Spyro let him lean on his leg for support. "You'll make an amazing warrior, Elleca. It was an honor to spar with you. You're the first one who has ever matched me in battle." He leaned forward to awkwardly shake her paw.

"You're not so bad yourself. I've never met someone who could move or think as quickly as me in battle. You move like the wind and act swiftly and efficiently. You take every development in the fight in stride, and you never miss a beat. I don't know what I'm more impressed of, you or your staff. It has so many functions that make you an even more effective warrior. The way you use it in battle is so elegant, it's almost as if it's an extension of your body. You had me at every turn, every step of the way. It's not often I have to resort to my fury."

"It's not often I have to resort to using my smoke bombs. You were pretty aggressive there. I admire your passion and focus."

"You both did wonderfully," said Spyro. "And now that you're both feeling better, you can take a seat in the stands, and rest while you watch the fight between Wither and me."

"Now that's something I think we would all like to see," said Hunter in anticipation. The other cheetahs continued to watch from the stands. They too awaited the battle between the Purple Dragon of legend and his mysterious son rumored to wield even greater power.

"Good luck," wished Cynder as everyone headed for the stands.

"Thanks mom."

Cynder shouted over her shoulder, "I was talking to your father!"

As they took their seats, Wither took a deep breath and let it out nice and slow like he always did to prepare for an important battle. When he looked up, Spyro instantly saw what Cynder had told him about a few days ago. It was a bit unsettling to see Wither look at him with such cold, emotionless eyes. When he stared into them, he felt like Wither had suddenly lost all interest in everything. Spyro knew this was how Wither enhanced his powers, but he looked so empty and lifeless. The crowd grew silent and everyone leaned forward eagerly. Hunter and Wylee were especially keen on watching what would promise to be a fight of epic proportions. When Cynder gave them the word to begin, they wasted no time.

A bolt of lightning struck the air where Wither had been a split second before. All the cheetahs around the arena gasped. Spyro covered himself in a layer of rock armor and turned in place, looking all around. Wither appeared in midair, lunging at Spyro from behind. He was aimed at Spyro's head, but couldn't claw his way through the armor. Spyro shook him off, but he shifted again, still trying to break the rock off his father's head. Wylee grabbed the railing in the front row, his mouth and eyes wide open. "How is that even possible?"

"Marvelous, isn't it?" asked Cynder as she watched beside him.

"I knew dragons were magical, but this?" Hunter joined in.

They watched in amazement as Wither attacked Spyro's head a third time. This time, he pulled away a small portion of rock, revealing a hole between his father's horns. It was no bigger than a claw, but this didn't matter. Wither reached up high as if to slam a paw down on Spyro's head, but instead, he pulled his black crystal out of a tiny cloud that appeared above him and shoved it into the hole, lodging it in the armor.

Spyro tried to swipe at him, but missed. After a few swings, he began to stagger. Pieces of the armor began to fall off his body, unable to hold on without the magical force keeping them in place. By the time he realized what Wither had done, half the armor had crumbled on the ground. He blew the rest of the pieces off in an earthy explosion. The crystal was blown away by the explosion, but not destroyed. It landed in Hunter's lap, making him jump. When he saw it, he recognized it instantly. He held it up and asked, "Is this Wither's element?"

Wylee also recognized the black gem from his father's stories of the last war in Avalar. "That's dark magic, isn't it?"

"First off, throw it back," said Cynder, backing up. "It drains us of our magic." Hunter apologized and tossed it into the arena. Once it was gone, Cynder continued, "Secondly, yes. That does help explain Wither's power. We'll tell you more after the fight."

They turned in time to see Spyro let loose with a huge blast of fire. Wither countered with a rush of nothing that consumed the blazing inferno. The fire's energy filled the nothing at the same rate as the nothing ate away at the magically created fire in midair, and both dragons were left with an empty space between them. When fire didn't work, Spyro tried freezing his son in place with a gale of arctic wind. The ice breath passed through Wither as he turned transparent. When his father stopped to catch his breath, he countered with another wave of rushing black clouds, which covered Spyro, consuming his energy. He vaulted out of the cloud with a single beat of his powerful wings, and shot another bolt of electricity at Wither. To defend himself, he threw his head back with a mighty roar and spread his wings. The dark clouds of nothing coursed out of his very body and spread outward in a swirling half sphere. The lightning passed through the clouds, but of course never reached its intended target.

After a few seconds, a draconic figure emerged from the protective bubble of nothing. It was cloaked in the dark clouds from head to tail and floated in midair, facing Spyro. "Whoa!" shouted Hunter, Wylee, Wither's friends, and just about all of the other cheetahs.

"That's a new one," said Cynder, eyeing her son with an impressed expression.

Wither spread his cloudy wings and flew through his father, leaving a disintegrating trail of darkness behind him. At first, he started off slow, but then began passing through Spyro over and over again. Every time he passed through, he would shift so as to go in for another pass through his father. After only a few seconds, he was shifting and passing through Spyro at just about every angle in midair with incredible speed. He was certainly going faster than Elleca or any cheetah ever had. After about ten seconds and what seemed like fifty passes, Spyro fell to the ground, unable to keep himself in the air any longer. Wither shifted to the crystal on the ground with his back to his dad. He picked up the crystal and put it away before turning to Spyro. He lifted his head up and tried to stand, but just ended up collapsing in a heap, too tired to move.

The cheetahs all around were too shocked by the display of Wither's raw power to do anything at first, but after several seconds of silence, the crowd erupted in cheers and applause. Even his friends and his mom joined in. He padded over to his dad and asked if he was okay. At first, he was afraid when he saw tears in his father's eyes, but then Spyro lifted an exhausted paw and placed it on Wither's. "I'm so proud of you son. You've defeated one of the purple dragons. That makes you the single most powerful dragon in the world."

Wither smiled at his dad's praise as the nothingness around his body evaporated and he promptly fell over unconscious from the sheer exhaustion his attack had caused him. Spyro chuckled and said to himself, "Well, you're getting there, my son. You're getting there." Then he laid his head down and enjoyed a nice nap while Cynder made to go revive him with crystals.


	15. Chapter 14 Earthbound

Chapter 14- Earthbound

After a great many green crystals, Spyro was feeling like his old self again, but Wither looked a little shocked once he was able to pick himself up. After defeating his father, no one could ever look at him the same way again. The Purple Dragon was the greatest symbol of power in Avalar and now that he had proven himself to be stronger than him, he was blessed with even more respect than he had already held claim to.

After Spyro congratulated him, Cynder gave him her praise as well, followed by that of his friends. When Hunter and his son reached him, they presented him, not with praise, but questions. Once he had answered all of their curiosities, they stood and puzzled over his abilities with dumbfounded expressions. "It's complex, but I think I understand," said Wylee. "It may be nothing, but it sure is something. While you say it isn't really power, you can't deny that it makes you the greatest force in the world."

Wither shook his head. "Not true. You haven't seen Malefor's new minions yet. They can do strange things."

"Like what?"

"Well, for one, they can keep me from using my powers. Two, they can still touch me even in my nonexistent form. Three, one of them seems to be able to move things with his thoughts alone. Four, they can open portals for a quick and easy infiltration and escape."

"Alright, I get it. That sounds pretty bad, but why have they been attacking your city?"

"There was a group of four dragons my age that liked to go around causing trouble. There was Arragor, their leader; Obsidius, their muscle; Xath, their. . . pet; and Zar, their brain. Arragor was the first to go. He was the one who freed the Dark Master. He came after Obsidius, and together they came back for Xath. Now everyone thinks they'll come back for Zar."

"When?"

"Who knows? It could be next week, could be tomorrow, could be in about five seconds, but when they come, we'll be ready for them."

Wylee looked uneasy about the idea of the three terrors coming back, but he nodded and hoped the defenses being prepared would be enough. After watching the first two battles, the cheetahs began to take up separate spaces in the arena in order to prepare for the war. Some were still stretching, some had begun to fight, and others were practicing on their own. Not too long afterward, Wither and his friends took up their training again. For the better part of the day, they exerted themselves in every way imaginable. They practiced advanced dragon style martial arts, new ways to come out on top in varying dangerous situations. The cheetahs held their focus as best they could, but several times throughout the day, some of them would find themselves staring as the dragons used their elemental abilities. They were fascinated by all things magical and were starting to test the mental link the city gave them. They found that they could not only talk to each other telepathically, but also use their minds to feel where others were in the city. It was like being everywhere in Warfang at once, and it gave them quite a rush. They found that they could even feel the presence of small insects and the very essence of the plants. By the end of the day, everyone had adjusted to the feel of the ever present network of the city.

When some of the cheetahs questioned about sleeping quarters, directions were given to an empty barracks in the city for guests in times of war. Hunter and Wylee started to follow some of the cheetahs leaving for the day, but Spyro insisted they stay over at their house for the night. Upon hearing this, Wither decided to ask all of his friends over as well. They agreed to stay the night with him and scattered to tell their parents. Once they were gone, Spyro and Hunter's families began walking home. Wither wanted to shift home, but Spyro told him not to be lazy and walk with them. As they walked through the darkening streets of Warfang, Hunter, Spyro, and Cynder got caught up while Wylee and Wither talked to each other. Wither wanted to know what life was like for a cheetah and Wylee wanted to know the same of dragons.

When asked questions about the many different aspects of dragon life, Wither thought for a moment and said, "You know, I'm not your average dragon. Maybe I should wait until my friends show up. They could give you a better picture of what normal dragon life is like."

Wylee nodded in understanding before saying, "I know how you feel. To tell you the truth, I'm no ordinary cheetah myself. I'll tell you more about it when everyone's together."

After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the tower that the Spyro family called home. "This is where you live!" asked Hunter in surprise. "You certainly have done well for yourselves."

Spyro looked down and said, "After the war, the citizens of Warfang thought it appropriate to give us one of the more sizable buildings for a home."

"If you think it's impressive out here, wait until you see the view from the roof. It's the most beautiful sight I've ever seen, and it's my favorite place to hang out," said Wither.

Spyro led the way inside, showing Hunter and Wylee the first floor of their home. There was a tiered basin in the center of the room with several cushions lining the walls and floor of each level. This was clearly where the residents and guests were expected to sit and talk with the utmost comfort. Looking over to the right side of the room, Wylee noticed that there was a stone statue set into the floor in the far corner. It stood roughly three times taller than him and was clearly a depiction of Spyro and Cynder gazing down at an egg between them. Surprisingly, even though the family was known to be very well to do, these were the only notable features on the ground floor, making for a fairly simple room.

Spyro leaned down and said, "Wither, why don't you stay down here and welcome your friends when they arrive? Your mother and I are going to go ahead and give Hunter the tour of the house. It's getting late, so if anyone goes past the ninth floor, let them know to be quiet."

"Alright, dad. Good night?"

"Yes, we'll be going to bed shortly. I trust you can sleep in your room tonight? "

Nodding his head, Wither replied, "Yeah, tonight should be okay."

"Good night," called Cynder as they made their way to the stairs. "And be good. Boys and girls sleep separately."

Letting out a sigh and rolling his eyes, Wither replied with a smile, "Yes, mom," as though such a thing should be obvious.

Spyro let Hunter go up the steps first, and once the tails of the two dragons had slipped out of sight, Wylee asked, "Why be quiet past the ninth floor?"

"The sleeping chambers are on floors ten through twelve."

"How many floors does this place have?" ask the cheetah in a surprised tone.

"The twelfth floor is the top floor, but I consider the roof the thirteenth floor."

"Wow, you really do have a big house. The wealthiest cheetahs have two story houses. Of course, that's all we really need. This place sure is extravagant, though. The moles' ingenuity sure is a thing to behold. I'm quite an inventor myself in case you haven't realized. My Vallion Staff is just one of the many things I've come up with. Someday, I hope to visit Mjölnir and study with them in the ways of architecture and their advanced technology."

"Mjölnir? Oh yeah, I've heard about that place. It's the city of the moles, right? Heh, it's actually right beneath our feet."

"Really?" Wylee looked down at the stone floor, lightly stomping a foot on it in thought. "I've heard of it, too, but I never found out _where_ it was. So their city is underground? That's incredible. I bet it's nearly impossible to invade."

"Yeah, before they built the sewers for Warfang, the only entrances were tiny sink holes scattered here and there that eventually open up into larger tunnels, which lead to the caverns beneath Warfang. I've never been down there, but from what I've heard, it's big. Really big."

"I can only imagine. So why did they build Warfang above Mjölnir?"

Now Wither gave him a smile and said, "Well, they did that on purpose. You see, they built Warfang for us dragons as a gift to seal a friendship between our two races, but no one said where the city had to be built."

Suddenly understanding, Wylee nodded and said, "Making friends with dragons is a smart move. Your kind is easily the most powerful to walk the land. Not only did they form friendly ties with the dragon race by building a city for them, they built it directly above their city, and thus, created a powerful defense for their city. Wow, they're even smarter than I thought. I've always loved the moles' way of life and thinking."

A knock at the door suddenly interrupted their conversation. "Ah, that must be them," said Wither as he padded over to the door and opened it to let his friends in.

"Heeeeeey!" called Tera and Vera as soon as the door opened.

"Hey! You made it! Come on in, and have a seat in the basin."

The twins stepped past their host and nodded in Wylee's direction, giving him warm smiles and saying their unified hello to him, causing him to laugh lightly at their unique behavior. Psy and Sora came in together after the twins. Upon crossing the threshold, Psy looked around and drawled in his usually reserved tone, "Wow, swanky place you got here, Wither."

"Thank you, Psy. We can have a look around later if you want. For now, just join everyone in the basin."

Nodding his head, Psy slowly replied, "Alright."

"Hi Sora."

As she walked by with Psy, she quietly mumbled, "Hey Wither."

Next to step up to the entrance were Roxy and Elleca. Roxy started to lead the way inside, but Elleca stepped on his tail, causing him to grunt in pain and turn to see what see was doing. "Hey, that's my tai—ow!"

Ignoring Roxy's shouts of protest, she put one paw in front of the other, taking another step just above the base of his tail, then advancing to his back. After this, she placed a paw between the shoulders of his forelegs, forcing his front end down on the ground so that she could proceed to walk completely over him. Once she had her entire body in front of him, she turned around, lightly slapping him in the face with her tail, and held her face in the air, saying, "Ladies first, Roxy. Didn't your mother teach you manners?"

Picking himself up off the floor, Roxy said, "Oh, come on, Elleca. You could have just gone _around_."

"Aw, where's the fun in that?" Then she turned her attention to Wither and perked up. "Hey, Wither. Thank you for inviting me into your home. It sure was a nice gesture of you."

"Uhm, well, yeah. You're welcome? E-everyone's here except Renna, but she should be along shortly."

At the mention of Renna, Elleca's face puckered ever so slightly and she gave a tiny sniff, saying, "Yeah, of course. Good." She then waltzed past Wither, shouting, "Come on, Roxy! Everyone's having fun without us!"

Roxy rubbed the spot between his shoulders as he watched her walk away. He looked at Wither and said, "That is one crazy dragoness, I swear."

"I heard that! Hurry up!"

With a gulp, Roxy nodded at Wither and followed Elleca into the basin where everyone was getting acquainted with Wylee. Once Roxy was settled in, Wither turned back to the door and popped his head out the door to peer down both sides of the street. Everyone had shown up at roughly the same time, but Renna was nowhere to be seen. He started to worry about her after a minute of waiting, but then she came running around the corner and galloped down the street, coming to a halt in front of him, panting and wheezing from her exertions. "Sorry about the wait. Woo! I ran to catch up with everyone else. I'm not too late am I?"

Wither shook his head and replied, "No, everyone just got here about a minute ago, but what kept you?"

"Oh, my dad."

"Your dad?"

"Yeah, he didn't want me sleeping over here at your place. He said it was inappropriate, but I explained the situation to my mom and she helped me convince him that it was just a harmless sleep over. He only let me come because there's a bunch of other dragons here, including your parents. The fact that you're the son of Spyro and Cynder probably helped my case, too, but at any rate, I'm here now, difficult as it was to sway daddy."

"Ah, I see." Wither nodded in understanding before twitching his face in thought and asking, "You still call your dad daddy?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. He's always been daddy to me. Why?"

"Nothing. I just thought it sounded different."

"Different in a bad way?"

"No no! Nothing like that! Just different in a different way."

"Oh, okay! Hmm, looks like everyone's having fun over there."

Wither turned to see that everyone was talking to Wylee and getting to know him better. "Yeah, want to join them?"

"Let's."

Wither stepped aside to allow Renna into the house and let the door shut behind her. She followed him to the basin and sat down next to him. Everyone turned to them once they arrived and fell silent as they gave their attention to Wither. "Alright, it looks like everyone's here, so what do you want to do?"

Psy raised a paw to gain the floor and said, "We can get to party games later. I was just about to ask Wylee a question." The shadow dragon then turned to the cheetah in question and pointed at his forehead, asking, ""What's with the Y on your head? Is that your favorite letter or something?"

Wylee's piercing, sapphire eyes twitched upward for a moment. He smiled and shook his head. "No, this is a symbol of great respect among my people. It marks me as an elite that is rarely seen and, when found, placed in the highest position a cheetah can assume."

This piqued Elleca's curiosity and caused her to lean forward and ask, "Position? What kind of positions are there among cheetahs?"

"There are all kinds of different positions that cheetahs fill in every village. When it comes time for a cheetah to pull their own weight, they are given a position based on their skills and interests. Each position is important and keeps life in a village running smoothly. Each position is also accompanied with a title for the cheetahs that take them up. For example, there are the construction workers that build our homes, fences, gates, and other various infrastructures. These are the Delta Cheetahs. There are some among us that go out and hunt for the village. Some specialize at fishing and are referred to as the Rho Cheetahs. Others are better at hunting game in the woods and are deemed the Omicron Cheetahs. Once that food is brought back to the village, someone has to cook it. Those responsible for this task are the designated Pi Cheetahs. There are some of us that build weapons and defenses and other inventions that make life easier in every way imaginable. These are the Beta Cheetahs.

"The list goes on. Every cheetah knows how to perform all of these tasks if they are out on their own, but having each task broken down makes life much simpler while one is at home. Anyway, when a cheetah lives long enough and eventually becomes too old and feeble for laborious tasks, they become the wise men and women of the village. These are the highly respected Omega Cheetahs. Their word is law among us, and even the mighty warrior Alpha Cheetahs that lead and protect a village must answer to them.

"However, there is one position that is almost always left open in every village. It is the highest and most respected position a cheetah can assume. From the mighty Alphas to the wise Omegas, all other cheetahs recognize those that take this position as the true leader of the village. In order to take this position, one must be faster, stronger, and smarter than any other cheetah. A great series of tests is given to those who show potential for reaching it. First, one must out do the Betas in a demonstration of ingenuity by creating something that far outshines their inventions. Next, you must defeat all of the village's Alphas in combat . . . at the same time. Finally, after all this, you have to outdo the Omegas in a game of wit. If and when this is done, a celebration is held in honor of the victor and they are given this mark for all to see that they have been christened the Upsilon Warrior."

Everyone sat in silence after he finished, taking in everything he had said. After a moment, Roxy cleared his throat and asked, "So . . . being the Upsilon Warrior . . . that's a really big deal?"

Wylee tapped his knee with his fingers and appeared to search for a polite answer, but before he could come up with one, Elleca turned to Roxy and whispered, "Don't be stupid."

To this, Roxy shouted, "Don't be a jerk!"

"A jerk!"

Everyone edged away from the quarreling couple ever so slowly while they were distracted by each other. Renna whispered, "Here we go," in Wither's ear, forcing him to clamp a paw to his mouth so as to not let out a laugh.

Wylee leaned toward Vera, never taking his eyes off them. "Should we do something?"

Tera answered for her, saying, "Nah, they do this all the time. Best just to let it burn out."

"Do they really hate each other so?"

"No," replied Vera. "To tell you the truth, Roxy's the only one who could get away with calling Elleca a jerk and not receive any broken bones in return."

"Ah." Wylee seemed to understand the situation now as he turned to them to watch in amusement.

"How dare you call me a jerk!"

"Well, you are! I never call _you_ stupid!"

"I didn't call you stupid! I told you not to _be_ stupid!"

"Same difference!"

"Besides, I never say anything stupid!"

"And I do!"

"He just went into immaculate detail about how he's this one in a million cheetah! I think it's safe to say that asking him if it's a big deal is a stupid question!"

"It was really a question, it was more of a—"

"Yes, it was."

"No, it wasn't."

"Yes, it was."

"No, it wasn't! And stop interrupting me! You do that all the time! I feel like I can't get a word in edgewise even when it's my turn to talk!"

"You lose your turn when you say something stupid!"

"Grahh!"

At this, Roxy was left smoldering in silent frustration. Elleca raised her head in victory and turned to Wylee. "Sorry about that. So tell us what an Upsilon does."

Wylee looked a little surprised by the way Elleca was acting now. It was as though the little outburst had never happened. The only clue that there was a fight a moment ago was the fact that Psy was patting Roxy on the back and mumbling, "Better luck next time."

Wylee shrugged it off just as everyone else had and spoke up. "An Upsilon is generally free to do whatever he or she wants. My people often come up to me for help on certain projects, fighting techniques, or advice on how to go about certain situations. It is my obligation to help those in need, but other than that, I am free to tend to my own projects. Whether I wish to train myself in the martial arts, build something, or take a nap, the village now considers me to be so valuable that I can be of the most use by simply being me."

"Wow, that sounds wonderful," replied Renna. "So you don't even have to listen to the elders of your village?"

"As an Upsilon, the Omegas influence over me in greatly lessened. However, I still pay my respect to them and listen to everything they have to say. It is unwise to ignore the wisdom an elder has to give."

"Sounds like a noble way to treat your elders," said Sora.

Wylee looked at her and asked, "Sora, is it?" to which she nodded in affirmation.

"You don't really talk much, do you?"

Psy replied in his quiet voice as she hid her face under his wing, "She's just shy is all. Just give her some time, and she'll eventually warm up to you."

"Ah, I see." Wylee then turned to Elleca and said, "So about our fight earlier. I think you did surprisingly well. As I said before I've never fought a dragon before, so I had no idea how capable you all are at fighting. Is everyone as skilled as you?"

Wither answered for her, saying, "Elleca takes third place in our class just below Renna."

At this, Wylee sat up straighter and peered at Renna. "You mean you're an even better fighter than Elleca?"

Renna looked around the room sheepishly, muttering, "Well, I uhm . . . uh . . . I guess."

"What she means to say," answered Wither for her, "is that her potential is considerably greater than Elleca's, but Elleca has more initiative in combat."

Wylee frowned in confusion and asked, "How so?"

"Well, Renna is a light dragon, which makes her powers inherently better than Elleca's, but Renna doesn't like to fight unless she absolutely has to, whereas Elleca loves a good bout."

Wylee turned to Renna and asked, "What is it that you have against a fight, even if it is just a sparring match?"

Renna raised her big eyes from the spot between her paws to look him in the face and replied, "Once, during a fight, I seriously injured my opponent. His name is Omba, a shadow dragon. I didn't mean to hurt him, but my power is so strong . . . I didn't know how to control it yet. Then there was another time I hurt Wither and gave him a terrible sun burn that had to be healed with red crystals." Wylee nodded as he listened to her reasoning, but then Renna's story became even more grave.

"But that's not the worst of it. Before Arragor ran off to work for the Dark Master, he used to taunt Wither all the time. You see, it took Wither an unusually long time to find out what his power was, so Arragor used that against him. My friends and I tried to protect him like we said we would, but Arragor snuck past us and got to Wither one day. He hurt him really bad, and I . . . I guess I got angry. . . angrier than I can remember. I almost killed Arragor with my fury abilities. I'm sure you don't know this particular fact, but a light dragon's fury is by far the most destructive. The result is known as a supernova, a blast of energy capable of vaporizing everything within probably a ten mile radius of the epicenter. That's all of Warfang.

"Anyway, Shadow Master Noh and Psy were able to suppress my power, but all that did was buy time. There's no telling if they could have held it long enough for it to implode, but whether they did or not wouldn't have made much of a difference for those in Warfang. You see, when a light dragon's fury is suppressed long enough, it collapses in on itself and devolves into something the elders call a black hole. Such a force is said to open a gateway of darkness that will consume the whole of the world. I read about the process after it happened. Apparently, it's happened once before. The first light dragon, Aurora, did it, but the events surrounding that incident are unknown.

"All I know is that I have more power inside me than I know what to do with. It's best if I always hold back and try not to give it my all, lest I lose control and end up hurting a lot of people. I don't want to hurt anyone."

Wylee sat and listened as she finished up. "I don't know whether I should be blown away by what you just told me, or sorry for you because of it, but for what it's worth, you have my sympathies."

"Thank you, Wylee."

Now the cheetah turned to Wither and said, "Yet you are stronger still."

Elleca decided to answer him. "Yeah, did you see him today? He beat his dad in battle. His dad! Spyro the Legendary Purple Dragon! Wither's just a natural," she added as she scooted a little closer to him.

Roxy watched this and gave a huff. "What are you—"

She whipped around and flashed a wicked look at him. "So help me, Roxy, if you say one more word . . . I . . . I can't be held responsible for what I'm going to do to you."

"Really?"

"Round two," said Psy with a grin.

Elleca pounced on top of Roxy, pinning him to the floor as Psy backed away again to avoid being pulled into the brawl. Roxy didn't even fight it. He just lay on his back and stared up at Elleca's crimson face. "What now? What are you going to do to me, Elleca?"

She stared at him for a moment before letting out a frustrated growl and punching him in the shoulder. A small look of discomfort crossed Roxy's face, but other than that, it appeared as though she had given up as she let him up. She didn't do anything after that and neither did he.

Everyone stared at them in silence to make sure they were done, but then a chuckle was heard. They all turned toward Wylee who began to lose himself in a fit of laughter. Elleca puffed herself up and asked, "What . . . is so funny?"

When he finally calmed down, Wylee held his stomach to ease his pains. After a few deep, calming breaths, he looked Elleca in the eyes and said, "It's just so funny. I see what you're doing."

"And what am I doing?"

"Let me ask you something. How long have you known Wither?"

"About a few months. Why?"

"And how long have you known Roxy?"

"Since birth. He was right there, breaking out of his egg when I poked my head out of mine."

"Really? And you remember that?"

"Yeah."

"Impressive. Then I'm right."

"About what?"

"I wouldn't expect you to understand since you're the one who's doing it. It's something you'll have to learn yourself."

"What? What is it?" Elleca appeared genuinely curious now, but it was no use. Wylee wouldn't speak about the issue anymore.

"Well, I think it's getting kind of late," said Tera.

"Yeah, we're off to bed, added Vera. "Where _is_ bed?"

Wither got up, stretching out like a cat and yawning, forcing everyone to catch it and yawn in return. "Yeah, it is getting pretty late, isn't it? Come on everyone. It takes a while to get to the sleeping chambers."

"What? You mean the bedrooms?" asked Roxy in confusion.

Psy leaned in and whispered, "Wither's rich. The bedrooms in this place are probably as big as our living rooms. I mean, just look at the size of the lounge area. His house is ritzy."

Roxy made an 'oh' shape with his mouth and nodded in understanding then proceeded to ask, "Why does it take a while to reach the bedrooms?"

Suddenly feeling self-conscious at Psy's words, Wither averted his gaze from his friends and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well uh, they're at the top of the tower, so you know . . . it's a bit of a walk."

"Why don't you just make a shortcut?" asked Renna.

"That would be easy enough for myself, but with all of you? It would take too much effort. I'm tired, and training was brutal today as usual. It would just be easier for us to walk. That way I can show you all around, too."

Everyone agreed and followed him up the spiral staircase that wound its way up the tower in a counter clockwise direction. After about a full minute of walking, they finally reached the second floor. All everyone saw was a blank hallway that snaked its way around the circular wall of the tower. They said nothing as Wither lead them through the apparently empty hallway that was adorned only with a few torches held in brackets set in the walls and a purple carpet with golden trim. As Wither pressed forward, he began to leave his friends behind. They picked up the pace to keep up with him and looked around at the dull surroundings. Everything seemed to repeat itself as they wound around and around the tower. Every torch on the walls was replaced by others just like them at regular intervals. After a moment of tedious walking, Wither's entourage settled their gazes on the way forward once again. Elleca was annoyed to see that Wither was still leaving them behind and redoubled her efforts to catch up to him. However, for every step she took, it appeared as though she was two steps further from Wither. "Hey! Wait up! Wither!"

She ran toward him and instantly zoomed behind everyone else. They all turned to watch her with puzzled looks only to find that somehow, the stairs were still right behind them. "Hey!" shouted Tera.

"What gives?" asked Vera.

"What in the world _is_ this?" asked Wylee, clearly intrigued by the situation.

Wither turned around at the exclamations behind him and looked around at the walls for a moment before laughing and saying, "Sorry, I forgot." Then he looked around at the walls again and said, "It's okay. They're friends of mine. They may pass."

"Who are you talking to?" asked Renna as she cocked her head at him with a curious frown.

"The tower."

"Uh . . . you're talking to your house?" asked Roxy.

"Yeah, it won't let anyone past this point unless they have permission from me or my parents."

"How is that possible?" asked Wylee.

"My dad cast a spell on this floor to turn it into a perpetuum for intruders."

"So we could walk down this hallway forever and never go anywhere?"

"That's the idea. I've never seen it work on anyone before, because I've never had anyone over. That's why I forgot about it."

"Fascinating. So in the right circumstances, magic can warp space," mumbled Wylee to himself as he memorized the fact. "Are there any other safeguards like this one later on?"

"Uh . . . yeah, there are. I'm glad this is the first one, because the others are a little more . . . deadly."

"And you forgot about that!" asked Elleca in exasperation.

"Hehe, sorry?"

"Ugh, let's just go. Don't kill us, okay?"

"Don't worry! I won't let the tower kill you."

They continued down the hall and eventually came to another staircase that led up to the third floor. This floor was a little more commonplace than the last one as it was split into two rooms. On the left was a small library with a humble collection of books, which were assigned to Spyro and Cynder by the other elders so that they could continue their education on various matters that an elder needed to be in the know about. Wither admitted to spending a fair of time in the library himself when he was younger. Apparently, he had already read every book simply for the fun of it and passed his parents in their studies, much to their delight.

On the right was a bathroom and a gym filled with various pieces of equipment that was specially made for dragons by moles. According to Wither, Spyro and Cynder spent more time in there than in the library like they were supposed to, but his dad was guiltier of neglecting the books than his mother. When asked how often he worked out, Wither scratched at the floor and replied, "Never."

This got a few laughs, but everyone told him it was okay and kept going. The fourth floor was filled by a giant pool of water that was used for swimming and bathing. There was also a smaller pool next to it for drinking. When asked how it was kept clean, Wither informed his friends that the moles had built some sort of plumbing system in the walls that kept the pool filled and crystal clear. Clearly impressed, they continued on up the tower to the fifth floor.

Upon setting foot on the fifth floor, Wither whirled around and told his friends, "Don't go past the last step yet."

"Oh, thanks for the warning!" shouted Elleca as she teetered forward on the last step, trying not to fall on the floor beyond it. Roxy grabbed her tail and pulled her back, receiving a flustered thank you from the dragoness.

"My friends are allowed beyond this point as well." After saying this, Wither motioned them forward.

"Do you really have to give us permission to advance on every floor that's booby trapped?" asked Psy in his drawling voice.

"Yes, it's an added precaution to prevent anyone from bypassing all of the defenses by keeping them separate from one another."

"That seems logical," commented Wylee.

"Next time, can you tell us before we reach the floor that could kill us?" asked Elleca.

"Sure thing. Don't worry, you wouldn't have died the instant you set foot on the floor, you just would have become a target. I said I wouldn't let the tower kill you, and I meant it."

"What would have happened anyway?" asked Renna out of curiosity.

"Well, you see all the empty suits of dragon armor and paintings of various monsters?"

"Yeah . . ."

"The suits of armor come alive and attack trespassers, and the figures in the paintings are supposed to come out and try to drag you into the walls."

"Are you serious!" shouted Roxy. "That sounds like a nightmare! What sick, twisted freak could think of a trap that involves having you locked inside a painting!"

"Uh . . . my mom."

"Ohhhhhhh."

"Insert foot in mouth," said Elleca as she rolled her eyes at him. "Remind me why we're friends again?"

"Hey Wither, I didn't mean—you know I like your mom—Cynder. She's . . . she's cool and stuff. I mean, it's a brilliant idea, really, it's just a little. . ."

"Eccentric?"

"Yeah! Eccentric! Your mom's eccentric! Not sick . . . or twisted . . . or freaky . . ." Roxy trailed off and got quieter as he continued to dig a deeper and deeper hole.

Wither shook his head at his friend's awkward attempt to make up for his earlier comment and whispered, "Roxy. Just stop talking."

"Okay."

"Anyway," continued Wither, "the trap is only temporary. If anyone _were_ to ever get to this room and wasn't supposed to be here, the tower would let us know that someone's trying to infiltrate our house. My mom can pull someone out of the paintings if they get trapped in them . . . or so she says. Either way, it's never happened, and it probably never will. Moving on."

They crossed the circular room to the other side, where the stairs continued on to the sixth floor, which housed an equally large and circular room that was completely empty. "What's this room for?" asked Renna.

"It's a training room. Dummies are summoned up from the floor when someone wants to fight here."

"That's amazing!" shouted Vera.

"The only other place like that in Warfang is in the training grounds for the earth dragons," added Tera.

"Yeah, pretty impressive to have your own dummy training arena," commented Renna.

"Thanks. I don't ever use it, but my mom and dad practice here daily."

After a moment to take it in, they moved on to the eighth floor. This floor had another small bathroom, but was mainly dedicated to an armory that contained several artifacts that not even Wither was allowed to touch. "What's this?" asked Elleca as she padded up to a ruby barely big enough to fit in her mouth.

"Don't touch that!"

She jolted her paw back and turned to him with wide, slightly frightened eyes. "Why? What's wrong?"

"That's no ordinary ruby. It's a Hellfire Core crafted by the most powerful pyromancer ever known to walk the land of Avalar, a mole named Brim. In the hands of a pyromancer, it's practically a gift from the gods, but if anyone else touches it, it can incinerate your flesh."

Elleca made an odd sound that he had never heard before and backed away from the treasure trove filled with objects of a questionable nature. "Maybe we should keep going."

"That's probably best. Oh, and watch out. That next floor is a trap, too."

Everyone nodded and followed him up the steps until they reached the next floor and stayed back while Wither informed the tower that it was okay for them to continue. The floor here was filled with tiles of various colors. Wither informed them as they walked across the floor that his mother and father had worked together on this floor and that stepping on a tile would result in a violent blast of elemental energy that corresponded with the color of the tile. "The yellow is electricity and orange is fire and so on and so forth. You get the idea," said Wither as he wrapped up the explanation.

"Now, the next floor is the tenth floor, which is where the guest rooms begin, so everyone be quiet. Wylee, your dad is probably in a room on the tenth floor if you want to sleep in his room."

Wylee nodded in agreement as they reached the top of the stairs. He walked down the hall the split the floor in two. Each side had two rooms, both of which were directly across from the opposing ones. Wylee looked into each room, squinting with his cat eyes to see in the dark. When he reached the room on the right at the end of the hall, he waved at his new friends and whispered a goodnight before entering the room and shutting the door behind him.

Once Wylee was settled in with his dad, Wither turned to the rest of his friends, "Alright, let's find some rooms."

"I'm bunking with Roxy," said Elleca.

"I'll stay with Sora," nodded Psy.

"We'll share a room," said the twins in unison.

Renna looked around and said, "I guess I'll need to take a room upstairs."

Sighing, Wither said, "No no, my parents have this rule. Boys and girls have to sleep separately."

This caused an unanticipated, whispered uproar from his friends, which was eventually calmed down at Renna's coaxing. After a moment, the protests came to an end and they gave up, consigning themselves to rooms with members of the same sex. "I guess I'll sleep with Roxy then," said Psy as they both took the room to the left.

"We're still good," said the twins as they took the room to the right, allowing Sora to come with them.

This left Wither, Renna, and Elleca standing alone in the silent hallway. "Well, I guess you two get to share the room at the end of the hall."

Both of them looked away from one another, neither saying anything for a moment, before Elleca broke the silence. "Uhm, I'm not sure that works out."

"What? The rooms are pretty big. There's easily enough room for three dragons in one."

"No, Wither," said Renna, gaining his attention. She looked at him and said in a very distinct voice while moving her eyes in Elleca's direction, "It won't work."

"Oh," was his only reply as he realized for the first time that they never did seem to get along. "Well . . . you can go up to the next floor. There are more guest rooms up there."

Renna looked behind her at the dark, empty corridor. ""Uhm, all by myself on a whole floor? It's a little scary . . ."

"Oh, don't worry. My room's on the next floor, too."

She suddenly brightened at the prospect of having someone else nearby and said, "That's okay then. I just don't want to be all alone."

"Hey wait a minute." Both of them turned to Elleca. "How many vacant rooms are on the next floor?"

"Three. Why?"

"I want one of those, too."

"Why?" asked Renna with a slightly sour tone.

"To keep you kids company," said Elleca in a babyish voice.

"Okay," said Wither slowly before turning to the stairs and saying, "Follow me then ladies."

Once they reached the penultimate floor of the tower, he pointed to one room and then another on the other side. "I don't care which room either of you take. It doesn't really matter. My room's over there. If you need anything, the bathroom's three floors down, next to the armory along with a washroom where you can get a drink. Don't worry. The traps won't affect you now. You can traverse the trap floors without me. If you need anything else, I'll be sleeping, so it'll have to wait until morning. Don't come in my room unless you have a good reason. If my parents saw any girls in there, they'd get in big trouble. I would too if I was with them. Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Wither," said both girls in unison, which elicited dirty looks from one another and sent shivers down Wither's spine.

He entered his room and crawled into bed. After a few minutes, he drifted off to sleep and started to dream of idle things. It was the unimportant kind of dream that he wouldn't remember when he woke up, but he enjoyed his carefree frolic in a world all his own until something seemed to shift. He felt a strange movement about him that started to tug him away from the dream land. Not too long after this feeling, he realized that his eyes were closed, and when opened them, Elleca was an inch from his face, watching him sleep. His initial reaction was to yell out in surprise, but she quickly slapped a paw to his mouth. When he was a little calmer, he moved it away and hissed, "Elleca! What are you doing? I was sleeping! This had better be important."

Elleca moved back a bit, giving him the biggest eyes he had ever seen and said, "I was just wondering if you could show me where the water is."

Wither gave a half annoyed, half nervous sigh and replied, "Look. I told you it was three floors down. Surely you're smart enough to find it by yourself."

"But it's dark and a little scary. I'd like someone to go with me."

"Please, Elleca, I know you're not afraid of the dark. If you had have gone by yourself you'd probably already be there, and I'd still be asleep. Just get out of my room. I'm not really comfortable with you in here what with my parents' room right above mine and all."

"Aw, but Wither—"

He suddenly gave her the look he wore in the arena, which sent her on her way. He got up when she had gone and crept to his doorway. When he peered around the corner, he watched Elleca go back to her room. He sighed again and shook his head as he made his way back to his bed. Once he was back in his cushions, he rolled around and tried to get comfortable. He tossed one way and then a few minutes later, turned the other way. After a while, he sat up in bed and cursed Elleca for waking him. Now he found he couldn't sleep.

After staring at his empty doorway for a few minutes, he decided to listen around the house. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the twists and turns of his home. Slowly, his invisible tendrils of thin nothingness snaked their way out of his room. They traveled down the hall and found their way into Elleca's room. Wither had them probe the entire room and listened carefully, but the room was silent. He assumed that she was already asleep and withdrew the wispy intruders from her room in lieu of Renna's.

Her room was silent as well, so he let his tendrils drift down the stairs to the lower floor. He didn't bother checking Wylee's and Hunter's room, knowing that they were both asleep and instead checked the girls' room. They were just saying their goodnights to each other as his invisible ears slithered into the room, so he withdrew them and tried the boys' room across the hall. Here he found an interesting conversation to listen to.

"I don't know what to tell you Roxy," came Psy's voice through the link.

"It's not too bad, but it's gotten worse. She's always been a bit of a fireball, and I've learned to tolerate it, but ever since she joined this group it's taken a turn for the worse."

"Hey, it's like you said. You two have known each other all your lives, right? You're both best friends, right?"

"Yeah," replied Roxy in a quiet voice.

"Well then, don't worry about it. Maybe you just need to stand up for yourself and really mean it, I mean _really_ mean it, once. If you do that, she'll probably start taking it easy on you. Elleca doesn't take crap from anyone, but she listens to you. Anyone can see that you're different to her. You can do and say things to her that anyone else would be eating dirt for. Just try it. The next time she does something unusually mean to you, just let her have it. If she values you as a friend, and she clearly does, she'll get it."

Silence ensued for a moment before Roxy said, "I think she does it to impress Wither. She's only extra mean when he's around. Any other time she's herself."

"Well, if you want my opinion, she's not going to get anywhere with him. He told me once that she frightens him. I mean, I've see him staring, but Elleca's pretty, so that's no surprise. Just take my word for it. Do everything I told you and you should be just fine."

"Thanks, Psy. You know? You're a pretty cool guy."

"Hey, that's what friends are for, right? Now get some sleep. I have a feeling Spyro and Cynder are going to wake us up early, and it's already later than I usually go to bed."

"Alright, goodnight Psy."

"Goodnight Roxy."

Wither went ahead and let his probes evaporate and opened his eyes. For a minute, he considered sending tendrils into his parents' room, but decided against it, feeling that it wouldn't be right intruding on them like that. It wasn't as big of a deal with his friends, but listening in on his parents would make him feel weird. Besides, he was getting tired again, so he laid his head down and closed his eyes. Sleep took him quickly and made the world fall away as he slept a dreamless sleep, floating in an endless sea of nothingness.

His parents had to shake him awake in the morning. He was a little tired from not getting as much sleep as he was used to, but once he got up and stretched a bit, he was feeling better. Cynder told him to wake everyone up so that they could get ready for the day then she followed Spyro up to the roof to eat.

The first room he padded off to was Renna's. "Good morning sunshine!" he said as he popped his head in the door.

Renna's eyes flickered open and she looked up at him with mild surprise. "Oh, good morning, Wither." She gave a big yawn as she stretched the front half of her slender form out of bed before the rest of her body followed her. "Morning already, huh? You seem to be in a pretty good mood."

"A good night's sleep always puts me in a good mood, even if I got a little less than I usually do."

"Glad to hear it. Well, I suppose we had better go wake up Elleca," she said with a sour tone and a look of displeasure on her face.

"Ugh, would you believe she came in my room last night?"

"What?" asked Renna with a disbelieving look.

"Yeah. I woke up and she was right here," he said as he placed his nose on Renna's and looked straight into her eyes as he whispered, "just watching me sleep."

She burst out laughing and took a deep breath to ask, "Are you serious!" trying to gain her composure.

He backed up again and said, "I'm not making it up."

"What a weirdo," she whispered. "Did she say what she wanted?"

"She wanted me to escort her to the bathroom because she was, and I quote, 'afraid of the dark.'" He said this last part while raising both paws and wiggling his digits for quotation marks.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked in exasperation. "I can't believe her. And after what you told us, too. What did you do?"

"I told her to get out of my room."

"Did she?"

"She's alive, isn't she?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen her today." She suddenly gave Wither a suspicious look and started laughing again. "But seriously, that's messed up, Wither."

"Yeah, I know, and that's not even the worst part."

"There's more?"

"Yeah, I tiptoed to my door after she left and watched her go down the hall. Instead of going to the bathroom, she went right back to her room."

At this, Renna let out a low growl, surprising Wither. "Somehow, I'm not surprised. She is unbelievable. Are you going to tell your parents?"

Sighing, Wither shook his head and replied, "No, I just won't be inviting her over again anytime soon."

Following him out of the room, she said, "Well, at any rate, we should go wake her now."

They crossed the hall and Wither stopped at the door to call out, "Elleca, wake up. It's time for breakfast."

The electric dragoness dragged herself out of bed and crawled to the doorway, saying, "Already? Okay, I guess I'm up for some food."

Together, the three of them went down a floor and spread out to wake the others. Elleca woke up the boys, Renna went to fetch the girls, and Wither went to rouse the cheetahs. Wylee and Hunter woke up immediately and got up, already dressed and ready for the day. Wither directed them to the roof for breakfast before walking back to meet his friends. "Good morning everyone. Are you ready for breakfast at the best place in Warfang?"

"Where's that?" asked Psy as he rubbed the corner of an eye.

"Why, the roof of my house, of course."

"You roof? Oh yeah. You spent almost every second of everyday up there before the Great Awakening, didn't you? I bet the view up there is incredible."

"Just you wait, you'll see why it's my favorite place to hang out. You can see everything in Warfang and then some."

"Do you know what's for breakfast?" asked Roxy.

"Nope, but I'm sure it'll be pretty good, whatever it is. Mom and dad always catch great stuff in the forests surrounding Warfang."

Elleca rolled her eyes and asked, "Are we going to sit here in the hallway and talk about it or are we going to go upstairs and actually eat it?"

"Good point," said Vera.

"Let's go," added Tera.

"I'll meet you all there," said Wither as he turned around and shifted to the roof. When he unexpectedly appeared out of midair, he startled everyone already eating and made Wylee choke on the mouthful he was about to swallow. Coughing and sputtering, he hit himself in the chest for a moment before Hunter smacked him once on the back, dislodging the piece of meat from his windpipe.

After a fit of coughing, during which Wither apologized for the fright, Wylee set his food down and pointed at the young dragon with an accusing finger and said, "That's going to take some getting used to. Do you do that regularly?"

"It does make things a lot easier. Plus, it's loads of fun."

Spyro looked up from his meal and said, "By the way, Wither, about your shifting habit. If you keep that up, you'll never learn how to fly. Your wings aren't just for decoration, you know. So until you learn to fly, no more shifting allowed."

The bite that Wither was about to toss in his mouth fell back to the ground as his mouth fell open. "Aw, what?"

"Your father's right," added Cynder. "You may be able to best us in battle, and you get around faster than anyone else, but you need to learn how to use your wings, and we're still your parents, so unless it's an emergency, no more shifting."

"Ha, looks like that's the last time you'll be leaving us behind for a while. Thanks _buddy_." Psy had finally reached the roof and was a little ticked at Wither for making them walk without him, but his mood improved after hearing Wither's orders.

"Yeah, yeah, it's just until I learn how to fly, and then it's back to shifting."

"Oh, is that what we're doing today? That's good. So far, most of us can only glide. Only Sora can say she can actually list herself off the ground and that's because it comes natural, her being a wind dragon and all."

Spyro nodded and said, "Yes, today is about flight. I was your age when I learned how to fly, even though it wasn't until about three years later that I was strong enough to remain in sustained flight."

"Alright!" shouted Elleca, clearly excited about the lesson plan for the day. "I bet there's a whole array of aerial moves I could learn. What fun!"

"Yes, there are," replied Cynder with a grin. "But one step at a time. You have to walk before you can run."

After a few minutes, everyone finished their meal and was ready to set off toward the arena, but Spyro stopped them and asked, "Where are you all going in such a hurry?"

Psy turned and said, "The arena?" in an unsure tone.

Cynder shook her head and said, "Not today. You're going to learn how to fly from right here. It's perfect for the lesson, and the roof should give Hunter and Wylee plenty of room to practice their martial arts. The arena is a little crowded with all of the other cheetahs."

Wither flapped his wings and crafted some nothingness around himself to support himself in the air. "Look! I can fly! Now I can shift again!"

The performance was quite convincing to his friends. For all intents and purposes, it looked like Wither was using his wings to keep himself in midair, but Cynder was not impressed. "A good show, but you forgot to make your body bob up and down a little. How many dragons do you know who can remain completely motionless in midair?"

"Aw!"

"Nice try, but you should know better than to lie to me. You're not very good at it."

Everyone snickered as Wither stopped flapping his wings and slumped down in a defeated position with his head resting on his paws. Cynder's theory was proven correct when Wither laid down a good three feet above the surface of the roof. While his friends were all used to this display, Hunter and Wylee gawked in awe at Wither's floating form. "Just when I think the dragons can't surprise me anymore, they throw something new at me," said Hunter as Wither decided to come down.

Spyro raised his voice just a bit and said, "Well, if we're quite ready, it's time to get started. Frist off, let's try Sora. Psy says you can already fly. I've seen you do it before, but let's have a little demonstration."

Without any more prompting, Sora took to the skies with one beat of her leathery wings. She rose up high before diving down into the city below. Everyone watched as she gracefully weaved between the buildings and spiraled upward around another before doing a tight barrel roll through a small gap between two other buildings that stood close together. Once in the gap, which was no wider than three feet, she soared sideways through it to avoid catching her wings on the sides of the towers. To finish the show, she looped up and came back down, landing perfectly in the center of the roof where she had started.

"Outstanding! Well, done Sora. You may sit out for a while if you wish," praised Spyro. "Alright, who's next?"

For the rest of the morning, the young dragons took their turns trying to fly. Psy went next and did fairly well once given the necessary tips for beginners. Renna did slightly worse since her body was small and still a little weak for extended flight, but she was able to stay up for a few minutes. Tera and Vera did well, but no better than Psy. Elleca had a hard time getting up in the air, but once she was there, it quickly became apparent that she was as much of a speed demon in the sky as she was on the ground. However, she a quickly humbled by Sora, who decided to get up and race her to teach her a lesson in humility after she said something about being able to fly in her sleep.

Once Elleca was done, Roxy was up. Since earth dragons were known to be naturally bulky, everyone knew that getting him off the ground was going to be difficult. He flapped his large, emerald wings for about five minutes, but the best he could do was hover an inch or so off the ground, and even then the effect only lasted for about a second or two, so it wasn't really hovering, but rather falling slowly. When he complained that he couldn't do it, Sora described how she did it and tried to coach him with Spyro and Cynder. When that didn't help, Wither suggested that he could get Roxy off the ground, but this was quickly shot down by his parents. There was to be no cheating.

After what seemed like an hour with no results, Elleca got frustrated and strutted up to Roxy, saying, "I know you're big Roxy, but it's not that hard. I know how you work. You're just not trying hard enough. You have to want it."

"I _do_ want to fly. I'm trying as hard as I can."

"Yeah, I believe that you believe that, but you're not. You just need a little motivation."

"Like what?"

"Fly, Roxy!" shouted Elleca as she rammed into him and pushed him off the roof.

He cried out as he disappeared over the edge. Spyro and Cynder rushed toward the spot where Elleca stood. "What are you doing! He'll die!" shouted Spyro.

"No offense Master Spyro, but you don't know him like I do. He'll make it." Sure enough, they looked over the edge to see Roxy climbing his way back up toward the roof. "See? I told you."

When he reached the top of the tower, he rose above it just a bit higher so that he could fall back down, landing right on top of Elleca. He pinned her down with his massive body, holding her down on her back so that she had to look up at him. She tried to throw him off of her once, but he stepped on her neck, half choking her and shouted, "Don't you ever do that to me again! Listen to me, Elleca! I'm tired of the way you've been treating me lately! I'm not going to let you walk all over me anymore, you got that! Either straighten up and act like my friend or go find a new one! I won't have it anymore!" Then he got up and stomped over to the other side of the tower where he curled up and faced away from the others.

Figuring it was best to leave him alone, Spyro and Cynder pretended as though the incident never happened and looked away from Elleca, ignoring her gasps for air. Cynder looked over the small crowd before her and said, "Okay. That's nearly everyone. Just one more to spread his wings and fly."

Now everyone turned to Wither, who had hidden behind all his friends whenever the next student was to be picked. He was so desperate to hold off the inevitable that he now hid behind Wylee. He pushed him forward a bit, as if to offer him up as the next participant. Cynder rolled her eyes and said, "Sure Wylee. You're next. Come on, Wither. It's your turn. You're the last one."

Wither inched his tiny form forward, fearful of what would happen. He was clearly afraid of this lesson, he always had been. Now that it was here, he was forced to try to fly. He had tried it many times before by himself at this very spot, but never once had he felt that he could lift himself with his wings. They were too small and he was too weak to keep them flapping fast enough to do any good. Ever since he discovered his power, he had prayed that he wouldn't have to worry about it. His abilities made flying unnecessary, but his parents wanted him to learn how to do it anyway.

Now he stood facing his parents, surrounded by his friends, about to be humiliated. The fact that they had two spectators made it even worse. Everyone thought so highly of him and expected such great things of him that he was afraid of what they would think when he couldn't fly. It wasn't a matter of confidence. Wither _knew_ that he wouldn't be able to fly. He hadn't grown much since the last time he tried to fly, and what little bit he had wasn't enough to make a difference. He found himself wishing that he wasn't there so badly that he accidently turned transparent, showing off his nonexistent form.

This was enough to impress Hunter and Wylee, but it made Spyro and Cynder exchange worried glances. Cynder leaned forward, asking, "Wither, what's the matter? Don't you want to fly?"

In a barely audible voice came a quiet, "No. . ."

"Why not?"

"I've tried before. I can't do it. I'm too small. Look at me. Can't you tell I'm not built for it?"

"You may be small, but every dragon can fly."

"Yarrow said every dragon has an element."

"Well . . . you kind of do . . ."

"No, I don't. I may have my own power, but you know, as does everyone else who understands it, that it's not an element. It's the lack of, as in, I _lack_ the ability to fly."

"Nonsense," replied Spyro. "You wouldn't have wings if you weren't meant to fly."

"No, I have wings because you and mom have them. It's in the genetics, don't you think?"

"That's beside the point. Your wings have a purpose."

"Look, just because all the cheetahs have legs, doesn't mean they can all walk. Why can't a dragon with wings be flightless?"

"Actually, he's got you there buddy," said Hunter. "Some of the more unfortunate of our kind are stuck in devices called wheelchairs. Not all cheetahs can walk even though all of us are born with legs."

"Thank you, Hunter," said Spyro in agitation. He turned back to Wither and said, "It doesn't matter if you think you can do it or not. You're going to at least try."

For the next few minutes, Wither tried. He tried everything his mother and father told him to do. Sora even had to chip in again, but as before, this made no difference. It wasn't long before they had exceeded the amount of time it took to get Roxy to fly. After half an hour, Cynder had given up. Sora stopped trying when her pointers didn't help, and Wither had given up before he even started. Only Spyro persevered.

After yet another failed attempt to hover, Spyro said, "Come on, Wither. You're not even trying."

"Why bother? This is pointless. I'm too small to fly. Why do I have to fly when I can travel faster than anyone else?"

"Because it's tradition that every dragon learns how to fly, and besides, you can only shift to places you know how to get to. What if you need to go somewhere you've never been before? Flying is a lot faster than walking."

"Then what do you suggest I do? I've tried everything you told me. You said the ancestors will guide me and show me how to fly, but that's something that comes from the spark within. I can't hear the ancestors."

"But every dragon can feel the ancestors with them."

"Ugh, when are you going to stop using the 'everyone' thing on me! What's it going to take to get you to remember I'm not like other dragons! The only one who probably understands me is Malefor!"

At this, Spyro stopped talking, Cynder gasped in surprise, and everyone else was shocked into silence. Several expressions danced around on Spyro's face before it finally settled on anger. "Wither—"

"No! No one gets what it's like to be me! Every single dragon in the world has something in common that I don't. You know what it's like to be normal. Even Malefor knows what it's like to have a spark, but at least he had my powers. He still does, and he can do things that I can't. He knows more about my potential than me or anyone else. If Malefor was my teacher, he wouldn't waste my time teaching me to fly. He would be showing me how to do what his students can do."

"Stop right there, Wither," said Cynder in a stern tone that betrayed the stony expression she maintained. "We may not be able to relate to your unique position, but that does _not_ mean Malefor's a substitute. Trust me, I know from experience that there's nothing he can offer you, even if he has access to information we are not blessed with."

Wither simmered down under his mother's scorn. "I wouldn't actually go to Malefor. He offered to be my teacher and I declined. I was just saying that if he understands me, you should at least try to. Stop talking about 'every dragon this' and 'every dragon that.' I'm not every dragon, okay?"

Spyro sighed and wrapped a wing around his son, drawing him closer. "I know you're different, Wither. I forget that sometimes, but it's true. You're unique, a special case. While we may not understand what it's like to be you, we should try our best. I'm sorry I lost patience with you."

"Well, I'm sorry about what I said about Malefor. I know you know me as a dragon, I just meant you don't know what it's like to have a never ending emptiness right where your essence is supposed to be. Everyone has something tangible that makes them special. Roxy's got earth, Psy has shadow, Renna was lucky enough to have light, and you and mom have a little bit of everything. What do I have? I have nothing. I may be a dragon physically, but when you go deeper, I'm the exact opposite of a dragon. I'm so. . . un-special that nothing is all I have. Without it, I'm _really_ nothing. I may be powerful, but it's a curse and a blessing. I may have lots of friends and family, but in a way I'm also alone."

"No, Wither." Renna ducked under Spyro's wing and sat down with him. "You're not alone."

Cynder peered under Spyro's wing and said, "She's right, Wither. We may not know what it's like to have nothing for an element, but everyone here is behind you. We all care about you very much. Don't forget what your friends did for you before you even found your power. They protected you and fought tooth and claw for you when they had to. It wasn't long after that that you returned the favor. You've saved everyone here at least once with the exceptions of Wylee and Hunter. Think about it, Wither. We're all one giant family and we always help our own. . . with anything."

Wither allowed himself a smile and looked up to see that all of his friends were walking toward him. Spyro backed up and let them form a circle. Renna turned to Wither and said, "Remember, we made a pact. We're all in this together."

"In what?"

"The war, school, life, it doesn't matter. We're all friends. If any one of us needs help, the rest of us are there for them. This lasts forever." She placed her paw in the center of the circle. All of Wither's friends immediately followed, causing him to smile again.

"Wylee!"

The young cheetah pointed at himself and asked, "Me?"

"Get over here. You're a part of this."

Wylee walked over to the circle and found a space between Elleca and Psy. He looked down at all of his new friends and said, "It's an honor to be a part of your group. I promise I'll make a great addition to the team." He placed a paw in the center and Wither placed his over everyone else's.

As he did this, Elleca cleared her voice and looked across the circle, saying, "Roxy, I'm sorry. . . for everything. You're right. I have been a big jerk to you lately, and it's stupid. You're my best friend, and I don't want to mess that up. Can you forgive me?"

Roxy gave a sigh before sharing a smile with Psy. He rolled his eyes at her and said, "Get over here, you."

Everyone dispersed to let Elleca through to wrap a wing around Roxy as he nuzzled her neck a little. "I can't stay mad at you anyway. What would I do without you?" They both laughed lightly as everyone watched them, happy that they made up.

Wither turned to his father and asked, "So do I still have to learn how to fly?"

Spyro seemed to think about it for a moment and then he said, "Well, it took a while for you to learn how to use your powers, so I don't suppose we should expect you to fly right away either." Wither sighed in relief, but Spyro added, "However, I still want you to limit your shifting. You've made a habit out of it, and you're abusing your power. If you don't walk anywhere, you'll become lazy and lose out on the exercise."

"Hey, you'd do it too if you could. Actually, Malefor can use my power because he's a Purple Dragon. I could probably teach you how to do it."

Spyro thought about it for a moment then grinned and said, "Maybe later. Right now _I'm_ supposed to be the one teaching _you_, but since you can't fly yet and that's the lesson we're learning today, you have to find something productive to occupy yourself. Why don't you work on that important assignment Yarrow gave you? You're supposed to be figuring out how to draw energy from the Void, remember?"

"But as far as I understand it, there's _nothing_ there."

"Hey, don't look at me. That's for you to worry about. Good luck!"

Spyro turned around, only to come nose to nose with Cynder. She had a smile on her face, but it wasn't one he thought he liked. "You know, honey, our boy makes a good point. You _are_ the Purple Dragon, and as such, you are capable of anything _any_ dragon can do. Why don't you go to the Void with him and help him. You're both sure to benefit from the experience. Besides, it's been too long since you've had some father son time."

"But what about—"

"I'll take care of the others. They're sure to be no trouble. Go on now. I won't take no for an answer."

Spyro turned back to Wither and said, "Alright then. You lead the way."

Spyro and Wither were engulfed by darkness. When it receded to the point of its origin between them, they were gone. Spyro stood. . . floated. . . whatever beside Wither. There was nothing as far as the eye could see. "So what now?" asked the Purple Dragon.

"I have no idea. If you ask me, it's an impossible task. Nothing is nothing. You can't get something from nothing."

"And yet, Malefor is teaching his students how to do it."

"Yeah, or he's doing it for them."

"So then what do you propose? Can you think of anything?"

Wither shook his head and thought for a minute. "Tell me about the black crystals from the war again."

"There's not much to tell. All I know is that they sucked out the energy dragons that got too close to them, they powered his artificial minions, the grublins, and they were incredibly hard to destroy."

"Hmm, there is one thing that bothers me a little bit, but I don't know how significant it is."

"What's that?"

"I caught on to the concept of using nothing to take away, but it wasn't until later that I toyed with the idea of giving back. When I very first started out, I put crystals in the Void, and took them back out to see if I could. Then I used one of the ones I absorbed in class and rather than absorbing the actual crystal again, I took only the energy and replaced it with nothing. That's how I made my black crystal."

"So the black crystals are gateways for energy to be sucked into the Void?"

"Exactly, but I forgot about being able to pull things back out for a while and focused on using nothing to effect the world around me. Later, when I tried it again, I found that I couldn't take the other crystals back out anymore."

"But what about your black crystal? You've taken that out plenty of times. There was also that time you pulled the whole class in. You didn't have too much trouble bringing us back out."

"The black crystal is different. It has a physical form, but it's filled with nothing at the same time. It's kind of like a chunk of nothing that's pretending to be something."

"That's sort of confusing, but I think I understand. What about the rest of us and you?"

"Well, I can make myself nothing. The Void is kind of my thing, and since you were all with me when I took you in, I was able to have some control over all of you."

"When you temporarily make things nothing, they turn transparent, but the black crystals are solid. What's the difference between the nothing you can't touch and the nothing that's pretending to be something?"

"I don't know."

After several minutes of silence, Wither noticed that his father was fidgeting a bit. He looked over and asked him if he was okay. Spyro looked down at his son with a slightly nervous expression and said, "I'm just a little uncomfortable here is all."

"Why? It's great here!"

"There's nothing here."

"Well yeah, that's the point. I guess you just can't appreciate the feeling of being surrounded by a blanket of nothingness. I think it's relaxing."

"I'm glad you think so, but can we get out of here?"

"Sure thing. I'll just work on my control some more."

"Do you think you could teach me how to use the power of the Void?"

"I don't know. I can try."

"Why don't we go somewhere a little secluded to practice?"

"Okay, let's try your room."

The dark emptiness around them fell away to the master bedchamber in their tower. "Ah, solid ground."

Wither rolled his eyes and said, "Alright, down to business. First off, how did your other teachers tell you how to use your powers?"

"I actually learned them on my own first for the most part. They just taught me how to hone my abilities. There are some elements I don't think about much. I learned shadow, fear, wind, and poison from your mother, and I dipped into time a little when I was young, but there was no one around to teach me how to use it better. I've never tried light either and only learned tidbits about life from Yarrow."

"How did mom teach you?"

"She told me to look deep inside myself and showed me how to feel what the other elements felt like."

"You mean in your heart?"

"Yes."

"Then I think I can do that. What you need to do is reach down inside yourself and clear out all of your feelings. Take everything any of your teachers ever told you and forget all of it. Empty your heart of all feeling, empty your mind of all thoughts, empty your spark of all power."

"I can't just empty my spark." Spyro gasped after saying this as Wither drained his power away. "Now wait a minute! Don't just drain me."

"Do you want to learn nothing?"

"Yes."

"The first step is to not have any power."

Wither continued after Spyro gave him the go ahead. It took longer than normal because Spyro had much to give, but once he was empty, Wither smiled and said, "Now that your spark is empty, do the same to your heart and your mind. You have to care about nothing and no one. Not mom, not me, don't even feel anger toward those like Malefor. You have to _be _nothing. Once you accomplish this, you will be in the mind set most ideal for controlling nothing." Wither had been pacing before his father while he said this, but now he stopped and sat in front of him.

"Is that what you do?"

"You mean this?" Wither had done it many times before and could do it quickly now without much concentration. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out nice and slow. When he opened his eyes, he had that unnerving, uncaring face that everyone secretly feared.

"Yes, that. That's very disturbing, Wither."

"You currently stare into the face of one who cares nothing for anything," said Wither in his monotonous voice. "In this state, I am quite powerful. Now it is your turn. Show me what you can do."

Spyro obviously disliked the way Wither had to prepare himself for battle. He didn't think his son was capable of mustering a completely unfeeling attitude to everything in general. However, this was only temporary, and Spyro knew it. He knew that Wither was a kind dragon with a pure heart. The youngling got that from his parents. Spyro attempted to lose all feeling. He emptied his head of all thoughts and his heart of all emotions just as Wither had instructed. It proved exceedingly difficult, but it was just barely doable.

For a moment, nothing happened, but then Spyro felt something. An opening appeared inside him. He could feel the spark that produced his powers begin to thin out and dissipate. It was as if it was spreading out and collapsing in on itself at the same time. When the feeling passed, he was empty. He now knew how Wither felt when he did this. In a way, Wither was right. The feeling that came over him was one of intense peace. He suddenly realized an error he had constantly made his whole life. Everyone was always doing something, always busy, never stopping. When he wasn't working on something, he was relaxing, but even then, he would be doing something. Every time he had some leisure time, he used it to do fun filled activities. The only time he did nothing was when he was asleep, but even then, he wasn't awake to enjoy it. In the moments before sleep came, he would always have thoughts rushing through his mind. He would be thinking about things that he had done or things that he still needed to do. Never once in his life had he simply taken the time to clear his mind and just be. Now that he did so, he saw the world, _felt_ it, in a new way. It was like he was experiencing everything for the first time all over again. His mind had been reborn, and he smiled, reveling in the feeling.

Wither gave a sly smile and nodded in approval, seeing the look on his father's face. He finally understood. It didn't matter if Spyro could use the power now or not. He was able to connect with Wither in a way he never had. Wither let the peace wash over him as well and said, "No one ever takes the time to do this. It's a real shame. If everyone would do this at least once a day, and be able to feel at peace and at one with the world, then it would be a much better place to live in."

Spyro let the feeling envelope him. It coursed around him, through him, and lifted his spirit up high into the air. "Why do you feel so upset if this is what it's like?"

Wither already had his answer, for he was expecting the question. "Because no one understood. Yes, I had this, but I had it all to myself. Imagine if you had this, but no one to share it with."

Spyro thought about it and realized that it would indeed be very lonely. He placed a paw on his son's shoulder and gave a great sigh of content as he said, "Thank you, Wither. This is a wonderful feeling. I'd love to learn more."


	16. Chapter 15 The Search for Zar

Chapter 15- The Search for Zar

While Spyro had quickly learned what it felt like to have nothing and be surrounded by the feel of nothing, he found it impossible to control any of the powers that Wither commanded. For hours, Wither did his best to instruct his father in the art, but every time Spyro tried, he failed. After yet another failed attempt at using the power, Spyro sighed in frustration. "I'm telling you I can't do it. I can feel the nothingness there, but it's like there's some kind of resistance between me and the power."

It had taken Spyro a while to come to this conclusion, but once he figured it out, that's what he stuck with for the past two hours. Wither didn't understand what his father meant by 'resistance.' Spyro had claimed that it felt as though there was something blocking the power from his mind. When it came around lunch time, they took a break and headed up to the roof. After climbing the stone steps to the top of the tower, Wither noticed that all of his friends, excluding Wylee, were flying around the nearby towers of the city.

Cynder was sitting at the edge of the roof and watching while making conversation with the cheetahs. When Spyro and his son approached, she turned and said, "Oh, hello boys. I'm just letting the children do a little free style for now to work up some endurance. How did your exercises go?"

Spyro was the one to answer. "It went great. While I don't yet possess the ability to take over his element," he pointed a claw at their son, "I definitely learned a thing or two."

Wither chipped in, revealing his enthusiasm as he spoke. "Yeah! He may not be able to use the power, but for once I think he finally understands what it's like to be me!"

Cynder beamed down at her son, overjoyed to hear that they had some nice quality time together. "That's great you two. I told you it would be a great idea to go together."

Both Spyro and Wither exchanged smirks as she said this. Seeing the unspoken mischief pass between the two, Cynder faltered a bit before continuing. She raised an eyebrow at them in suspicion and slowly asked them the dreaded question, "What are you two up to?"

After a second or two of silence, Wither started pacing back and forth in front of his mother. He had a deceivingly innocent look on his face as he made each step, bobbing up and down, making it into a dance. "Well, dad said that since you were so adamant about him coming with me, and since you were clearly right about the fact that he should, then it would only be fair if you two traded jobs after lunch."

Cynder gulped a little louder than she meant to at this point. She gave a nervous little laugh and grimaced. "But I'm not a purple dragon. It wouldn't make any sense for me to go."

Wither and Spyro exchanged looks as though they were asking one another if she was serious. Turning back to her, Wither said, "Yeah, but you are a special circumstance, aren't you? You and dad both told me that your exposure to the darkness opened you up to the powers that a purple dragon wields. That's why you can use more than one element like dad."

Cynder thought for a moment while maintaining her smile. She opened and closed her mouth several times in an attempt to make a counterargument, but when she couldn't come up with one, she dropped the smile. "Oh, come on. I don't want to go in the Void again. Once was enough. That place is so dark and foreboding."

"It's only fair Cynder," said Spyro. "And besides, you'll learn a lot. I know it doesn't sound like fun right now, but you'll really come to enjoy it. Once you've experienced what I have, you'll understand Wither on a whole new level. Just give it a try."

Cynder gave a sigh of defeat and replied, "Alright, alright, I'll give it a try, but only because I want to see what it's like to be Wither." They could tell she meant this. As much as she didn't want to go to the Void again, she did want to be placed in her son's position and finally understand how his powers made him different from other dragons. In a way, she actually looked forward to the lesson for her and wondered what kind of teacher her son was.

She tilted her head back and let out an ear splitting screech that could literally be seen as red waves bursting upward from her maw. This was the call to let the students know it was time to come back, but it also doubled as a little pay back to her scheming family. She watched the skies as her students returned and let a small smile of victory cross her face as Spyro and Wither groaned due to their close proximity to the blast and clamped their paws over their ears. When Wither's friends landed, they all started talking to one another about the joys of flight while Spyro thawed everyone's next meal, which sat frozen in a lonely corner of the roof. Renna walked up to Wither and let out a puff of air. "Whoa, flying may be fun, but it sure is exhausting. So how did it go with your dad?"

"Pretty good, Renna. It was pretty good. He doesn't know how to use the power like I do, but he got the feel of having nothing at his core. Needless to say, I don't have to worry about being misunderstood anymore."

"That's great! I bet you feel a lot better now, don't you?"

"Yeah, for sure. How was the flying lesson?"

"It's like I said earlier, fun but exhausting. Your mom is a real work horse."

"I'm right here, Renna."

Renna tilted her head back to look directly up and saw Cynder's face staring down at her. She seemed a bit agitated, but otherwise didn't care too much about the remark. Wither gave a little chuckle and said, "Well, she'll get hers after lunch. She's coming with me and you all get my dad for the rest of the day."

Renna gave Cynder a cheesy smile to which Cynder just shook her head and walked away. Renna looked back down to face Wither and said, "I knew she was there."

"Yeah, right."

"Hmph, why didn't you tell me she was right behind me?"

"I didn't know you were going to say that."

"Fair enough. Mmm, that smells delicious." Renna had caught a whiff of the meat that Spyro was searing for their cheetah visitors. "I wonder why the cheetahs like their meat cooked," wondered Renna.

"I don't know. I hear apes like their meat cooked, too. Mom and dad say that some of the other races think eating raw meat is disgusting, they just don't say anything to us because they don't want to offend us. My dad says that he doesn't personally see the point in cooking it."

Even though Hunter and Wylee were talking to each other on the other side of the roof a good hundred feet away, they both looked over when Wither said this. Raising his voice a little so that Wither could hear him, Hunter said, "It's because it changes the flavor of the meat."

Upon hearing this, Spyro looked up from his work and froze. Hunter saw the look of worry on his face and waved a paw at him. "Not to worry old friend! I'm sure everyone here is just a little curious. No offense taken, I swear. If you want to know the truth, we cheetahs actually eat our meat either way. You don't have to cook it for us if you don't want to. I know it's a little more trouble."

Wylee saw a look of confusion and amazement on Wither's face as Hunter said this and figured out what he was thinking. Tapping one of his ears, he said, "Cheetahs can hear things a lot better than dragons."

Wither scratched the back of his head and gave a quick laugh as he hung his head in embarrassment. Of course they could hear him. How could he have forgotten about the cheetah's excellent hearing? Cynder sat next to Spyro and called out that it was time to eat. Everyone sat in a circle, enjoying their meal and talking of various things. Wither decided to sit next to Renna and Wylee so that he could lean over and ask, "What does cooked meat taste like anyway?"

Wylee tore off a piece and held it out. "Why don't you try it? It's pretty good. Who knows? Maybe you'll prefer it that way."

Wither looked at the steaming piece of crispy brown meat before taking a look around at everyone else. His friends and his parents were watching him to see what he'd do. After asking what they thought, they told him to go for it. Reaching out, he pierced the meat with his claws and pulled it out of Wylee's hand. After giving the hunk of meat a sniff, he placed it in his mouth. As he chewed it slowly, he tried to figure out what it tasted like. The first thing that he noticed was that it didn't have any blood in it, which was weird. He also realized that there was in fact a different flavor that was brought out in the food. The fat in it had been melted and made the meat a little greasy instead of bloody like he was accustomed to. It was different, but he had to admit that it was amazing.

"What do you think?"

"Well . . . raw meat isn't gross like some think, but neither is this, not by a long shot."

Wylee grinned and gave him another, larger piece in exchange for some of Wither's raw meat. Wither placed another piece in his mouth and continued to savor the new flavor of the meat. He caught Renna watching him with curiosity and offered her a little piece. She thanked him and accepted it without hesitation. When she was done experiencing the new dish, she looked down at her bloody meat and accidentally blinded everyone watching her by cooking her food with an intense dose of light energy. Wither, who had been right next to her, placed a paw on her shoulder and whispered, "A little warning would have been nice," as he tried to blink the spots out of his eyes.

She raised her head in her defense and said, "You never warn anyone when you shift."

"That . . . that's different. I'm not there to warn you I'll suddenly be there."

"Well, I couldn't help it. That's really good. I think I'll eat my meat cooked for a while now."

Wither just shook his head and turned to Wylee. "So cheetahs have sensitive hearing?"

Wylee swallowed his previous bite and nodded. "Yes, we may not possess the powerful magical properties that you do, but we make up for it in other ways. Sensitive hearing is just one of many advantages my people have over dragons, although I'd gladly trade it in to be able to fly."

"Gee, I guess we're kind of the same in that way, aren't we?"

"What? That we both can't fly?"

"Not just that. We both hear a lot better than most other dragons, too."

Wylee looked confused, but Renna stopped eating and said, "That's right! You haven't been using your powers to eavesdrop on anyone lately, have you?"

Knowing that he was a terrible liar, Wither just continued eating like he hadn't heard anything. Seeing this, Spyro decided to join in and say, "Yes, I forgot about that. While I'm sure it's a useful tool, you really shouldn't do that to your friends, Wither. It's a quick way to lose their trust."

"Alright then, I'll stop, but you're right about it being useful."

Spyro nodded in approval and continued to munch on his meal. However, after a few seconds, Cynder looked up and suddenly stopped eating. Noticing her odd behavior out of the corner of his eye, Spyro looked over at her. When he saw the worried expression on her face, he followed her gaze across the circle where her eyes rested on their son, Wither. It didn't take long for everyone to notice that something was amiss, and seconds later all eyes were on him. He had his eyes wide open, and he was staring off into space. His mother had noticed when he stopped eating and perked up as if listening to something far away. Now he was looking around in all directions as though he were trying to find something, and the look on his face could only be described as fearful. In an effort to figure out his problem, Cynder asked, "Wither? What's wrong?"

He paused for a moment then looked at her and asked, "Don't you feel it?"

"Feel what?"

He began to look around at all of his friends with a frantic expression. "You can't feel it? None of you can feel it?" Everyone could tell that he was gradually becoming more and more hysterical.

Cynder asked again, "What's wrong? What do you feel?"

Wither opened his mouth as if to speak, but stopped as he got up and walked past Renna and Wylee who stared after him, Renna with worry, Wylee with curiosity. He reached the center of the circle and continued forward, passing between his mother and father. Cynder tried to pull him to her, but Spyro held up a paw to tell her no. Everyone watched as Wither walked to the edge of the roof where he scanned the horizon. Finally, after just a few seconds, he settled his gaze at a specific place in the city off in the distance and raised a shaky paw to point out the spot he had singled out and whispered, "They're coming."

Cynder couldn't wait anymore as she asked, "What? What did you say?"

Wither whirled around to face everyone and shouted, "They're coming!"

Suddenly, as if this realization had been an incantation, a shimmer was seen in the city behind him warping the image of the buildings behind him as though everyone were looking at the scene through the heat waves above pavement on a blistering summer day. Everyone felt a heavy pressure push in on them from every conceivable direction for a moment. Then the burden was released as an echoing boom resounded through Warfang. A great distortion could be seen coursing through the air in an outward bubble from the place that Wither had indicated just moments ago.

Spyro immediately took charge of the situation. "Everyone go now! We need to hurry so we can aid the elders! They're after Zar! Hunter, climb on my back. I'll take you to the barracks. Rally the cheetahs."

"Wylee, you come with me," said Cynder.

Both cheetahs were astride the heroes in seconds. Once they were in place, their friends took to the skies and raced toward the barracks to drop the cheetahs off. As they watched them go, Wither said, "Everyone fly there, I'll see you when you get there."

"Wait!" shouted Renna before he could shift away. "Our wings are still sore from our exercises this morning."

Thinking fast, Wither shook his head and said, "I'm not feeling up to taking everyone with me yet. I need more time after my training, too. Come on! We'll have to run!" He took off and allowed Elleca to zip past them and lead everyone down the tower.

XXX

The First Disciple tore a portal open and strolled through it with his fellow generals. They knew that there would be heavy opposition this time, so they took the time to make absolutely sure that the portal was as close to the target as possible. With any luck, he would be home when they came. In and out, that's what they wanted. The less time this job took the better. Judging by the fortifications set up around their friend's house, he was definitely here. Unfortunately for them, they didn't know that the majority of the elders would be waiting for them. This was going to be a little tougher than they thought. Now that the elders were wearing special armor of their own, they would be given a powerful boost. The only advantage the invaders had was that there were three of them now. They stood in the street facing the front door to their friend's home. The elders had taken up defensive positions all around the exterior of the building. Terrador stood guard to the left of the doorway with Cyril next to him on the right side and Volteer perched on the overhang above the door. There were two balconies on either side of the front entrance on the third story of the building. Noh watched from the left one, and Hexus guarded the right. Once the trio had stepped through the rift and into the streets of Warfang, all five of the guardians attacked.

A volley of multiple elemental attacks, all of which were of the highest strength, was launched in their direction, but these attacks did nothing more than veer around their targets in every which way and cause heavy collateral damage to the street and the stonework of the buildings on the other side of the street. The orange dragon in the middle looked to his friends on either side and said in mock fear, "My, my. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were trying to kill us." The three intruders laughed together for a moment before the orange one told the green one to take out the door. The largest of the youths opened his maw and let out a deafening roar that blew the front door in and three of the guardians with it.

A wave of energy could be felt passing through the entire city and Yarrow's voice emanated from every tree, shrub, and blade of grass, echoing through the streets of Warfang. "_So you like to play rough, huh? Well, let's see how you fare against Mother Nature_." Roots shot out of the ground all around the attackers, surprising them and wrapping around their legs and pinning their wings to their backs. They fought against the roots, but the ground began to rumble and crack as more plants rose up from underground to launch an assault.

While they were preoccupied by the hostile flora, Noh and Hexus tapped into the power of their armor and unleashed a maelstrom of shadow and poison fury, blinding and poisoning their attackers. By now, the roots had the yellow dragon completely pinned to the ground. The large green one had his head forced up by vines that pulled on it to keep it held in place, and the orange one was being assaulted by the remainder of the deadly plants. As Noh and Hexus advanced, the leader used his new powers to blow the attacking roots away. This move also rid the trio of the blinding shadows over their eyes. When they saw the huge elders running toward them, they panicked. The green one blasted his sonic roars skyward in an attempt to break free, but couldn't move his head to aim at anything. The yellow dragon was able to reach the roots holding him in place with just the tips of his claws and scratched tiny marks in them. Once the roots had been blown away from the orange dragon, he was free to attack the roots holding his larger friend in place. He sliced his claws through the air, and the slash lashed out in energy form as three gouge marks raced from his paw and cut the roots to ribbons.

With his head free, the green one faced Noh and opened his mouth again. The elders expected another sonic blast, but instead, the attacker inhaled. Noh inexplicably fell to the ground and did not get up again. Hexus tried to avenge him, but was slammed against a wall and knocked out by the orange one's paw movements. By now, the poison was beginning to take its toll on all but the yellow attacker. The roots holding him in place had rotted and fallen apart where he had scratched them. Now that he was free, he faced his companions and inhaled, drawing their poison into his body where it could do no harm. Once they had recovered from their predicament they turned toward the newly enlarged doorway and attempted to enter the building. However, the trio of guardians that had previously been blown away before emerged from the wreckage, fresh for another fight, thanks to the healing properties that their type of armor provided.

Cyril froze the ground under the feet of the attackers, making them scramble for balance. While they were distracted, Volteer shocked the leader, giving him as much juice as he could. The yellow dragon rushed his former teacher and scratched at a small spot of exposed scales around one of his paws. He was only able to lay a single, shallow scratch on him before being dashed to the side by the larger dragon.

Meanwhile, Terrador tackled his former student and held him down with Cyril's help. They were about to strike him, but were cut short when the leader recovered from his shock and attacked Terrador with a telekinetic pulse that threw him with great force, causing him to collide with Cyril. The green one picked himself up and rewarded his attackers with another sonic roar. This, combined with the blow they had just received, threw them down the street, where they lay defeated. Satisfied that they would not get up again, the green one and the orange one turned toward their friend, who was waiting for them in the doorway next to Volteer who was lying on the ground, breathing in quick, shallow breaths. More roots were slithering up from the ground, so they quickly entered the building to find their target.

It was dark in the foyer. Three doorways led off from where they stood. The three dragons were running out of time, so they decided to split up. The leader pointed at the doorways, saying, "Famine, you take the left. Pestilence, you go right. I've got the middle."

"Yes, War," replied his partners in unison before going their separate ways.

XXX

General Famine lumbered through the door on the left. He came to a stop as he peered into the dark room before him. The area looked like a dining room. There was a pile of frozen food in the corner and a large open space with stains on the floor where meals were eaten by the residents. There was also an oven with a stove top, since no one in Zar's family was a fire dragon. Other than these few details, the room was empty. The green dragon made his way halfway across the room and stopped again. He raised his head, sniffing the air as he smelled something. Whatever it was, it wasn't the meat in the corner of the room. Using the new powers bestowed upon him by Malefor, he was able to tell he was smelling energy. He sought out the source and inhaled when he found it, consuming it. It had been an invisible magic trap at the end of the room. Once he was done eating it, he licked his lips and laughed, "Heh, yum. Fear energy." Had he tried to walk through the doorway, he would have been stricken with inexplicable fear and most likely would have been unable to go any further or even move for that matter. However, with the energy safe in his belly, he was able to gain a boost with it, using it to make himself stronger.

Once the trap had been eaten, he continued toward the doorway and looked at the next room from the entrance. There was nothing more than a spiral staircase leading upward to the second and third floors of the house. He climbed the stairs to the second floor and smelled more energy. He entered the only room that could be accessed from this staircase. It looked like a bedroom, but was a bit bigger than the one he slept in when he was in Warfang. He assumed this was a guest room due to the fact that everything was covered in dust and hadn't been touched in what looked like a long time.

He sniffed the air again and determined that it was ice energy he was smelling. Expecting to find Zar, he entered the room and was immediately encased in ice that rose up from the floor, freezing him solid. General Famine felt even dumber than usual for walking into the trap. No doubt it had been laid by Cyril earlier. The Ice Master couldn't have known that that specific energy type would attract him, but the feel of the icy energy had acted as excellent bait and Famine had unwittingly taken it. The frozen dragon let out another ear busting roar and shattered the ice, freeing him from the trap. Once he was free, he heard a soft thump directly above him. His roar must have alerted someone upstairs of his presence.

Famine crept out of the empty room and up the spiral staircase to the third floor. Once he reached the top of the stairs, he stopped to listen. There was an opening to the left where one could go out on the balcony and an open doorway to the right. He peered around the corner and into the room where the noise had come from. It appeared to be nothing more than another room. It was large like the last one, but this one seemed brighter and well kept. He assumed that this was Zar's parent's room due to its size and contents. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he advanced to the center of the room. "Zar! You in here?"

Just then, a huge dragon flew into the room through the open window. Famine turned to face the surprise attacker, but he was a little too slow. Fear Master Vivian let out an ear piercing shriek and paralyzed him. He stood rooted on the spot, unable to move due to the unnatural sense of terror that gripped him. Vivian wasted no time and brought down her right paw, flooring him with one blow. Her physical strength was surprising, even for an elder, but Famine looked up at her and sensed that her armor emitted a unique type of energy that gave her body tremendous strength. This was going to be a tough fight.

However, despite Vivian's augmented strength, Famine was too strong to stay down after just one punch. He rolled over on his back and let loose with another sonic blast. Vivian tried to dodge the attack, but the edge of the sonic field clipped her side. She was sent spinning, but was able to land on her feet and rush her opponent before he could charge up another roar. Her paw connected with the side of his face and he was sent flying into the far wall twenty feet away. He hit the wall with a sickening crunch and crumpled to the floor.

General Famine's black crystal armor began to glow and emitted a loud buzzing noise, which forced Vivian to clamp her forepaws over her ears. Since Famine was knocked out by the impact with the wall, the armor he wore sent massive surges of energy through his nervous system and took over for him. Vivian watched in horror as the young dragon's limp body sloppily picked itself up off the floor and hurled itself at her. He may have been a young dragon, but seeing as he was so big for his age, he was able to bring her down. The shock factor of seeing an unconscious body still willing to fight had caused Vivian to just stand in amazement as her attacker knocked her to the floor.

Now he stood on top of her and brought his paws down on her over and over again, trying to beat her senseless, but once she recovered, she countered with another cuff to his face. Famine was sent reeling and Vivian rose to finish him, but the armor he wore gave an outward pulse of energy to protect its master and it was Vivian's turn to fly into a wall at dangerous speed. She tried to get up, but just as she hit the wall, the energy that the armor was pumping into Famine's mind finally woke him up. When he came to, he realized what had happened and hit his opponent with another sonic roar. The direct hit snapped her head back and knocked it against the wall again. Once he was satisfied that she was done, he heard War call to him. He took a running start and jumped out the window Vivian had come through.

XXX

Throwing caution to the wind, Pestilence dashed through the open doorway on the right side of the main hall. He made his way into what appeared to be a washroom, scanning it for Zar on the run and fell right into one of the guardian's traps. In his rush to find Zar, he hadn't noticed the large amount of water pooled on the floor, and once he was in the center of it, a large electrical wave passed through him, temporarily paralyzing him. Once he finished using his natural born power to draw out the charge, he was able to move again. "You've got to be kidding me," he mumbled to himself. "Master Malefor wouldn't like to hear about this. How many times did he tell me to think before I act before we left? I guess he was right when he said that was my greatest weakness . . . Oh well, what he doesn't know won't hurt him. Luckily, it was my element. Anything else wouldn't have been so easy to fix. Better continue a little slower."

Once he reached the end of the washroom, he saw a spiral staircase through the other doorway. He carefully climbed the steps and reached the second floor without incident. Listening carefully, he made his way into what looked like a guest room. It was dark and everything seemed a little moth eaten. Cobwebs covered a mirror on the wall and gathered in the corners of the room. It was clear that no one ever came in this room, so he turned around and continued up the stairs to the third and final floor of the house.

This was where things became a little more interesting. He turned to the doorway opposite of the balcony and came face to face with Wind Master Valorie. She blocked his path to the room beyond, which was clearly Zar's room from what Pestilence could see of it. He grinned and looked up at Valorie. "Ah, I've found the right place, I see."

Valorie spread her front legs a bit to brace herself and said, "You shall not take Zar. Of that, you can be sure."

"Heh, we'll see. Hm, you're looking better. I thought War had all but killed you."

Now a look of confusion crossed the Wind Master's face. "Who? You mean Arragor?"

At this, Pestilence merely chuckled at her ignorance and shook his head in amusement. Just then, Valorie gasped as she thought back to the day Arragor had come back. She could remember clinging to consciousness, lying broken at the entrance to the Council Chamber. Spire had taken a hit for Arragor and his son was surrounded. Just before she blacked out, she had heard Arragor shout, 'I am General War, the First Disciple!' Now she looked back down at the young dragon everyone had known as Xath. "Who are you? What have you become?"

"I am General Pestilence, the Third Disciple. That is all you need to know. Now stand aside or face devastation." The threat was real and Valorie knew it. She had learned what these twisted monstrosities could and would do to get what they wanted. In truth, she was terrified, but she refused to show it. Her only regret was that she very well might have to go right back to Yarrow's altar after just being released earlier that day. However, she steeled herself and faced him, letting him know it was going to be the hard way.

"Very well, but I think you'll come to regret your decision." Pestilence opened his mouth and blew in Valorie's direction. She flinched as he did so, but when nothing happened, she raised an eyebrow and cocked her head to the side.

"Have you forgotten how to use your powers little traitor?"

Pestilence shook his head again, but this time it was out of disappointment. "It's a shame really. Had you just given in, Master Malefor would have gratefully accepted you and allowed you to live. The offer still stands if you want me to save you, but you better make up your mind quickly."

"Save me? From what? Your bad breath? Are you just messing with me or are yo—" Just then Valorie began to cough. After a moment, she tried to continue, but burst into another fit of coughing. Her legs began to tremble and she started to feel weak even in her powerful armor. Through her fits of coughing she asked what he had done to her. She fell to her knees and rolled over on her side, suddenly aching all over.

After she fell, the little dragon walked toward the doorway. He stopped next to the guardian that lay trembling on the floor. "They don't call me Pestilence for nothing. Even if Yarrow can heal you, the next few hours of your life are going to be the worst you've ever known."

He walked away and left her breathing shallowly on the floor. When he entered the room she had been guarding, he expected to find Zar waiting for him. He shook with fury when he found that the room was empty. He whirled around and stomped back to Valorie. He placed an armored paw on her throat, causing her even more discomfort. "Where is he!"

Valorie laughed weakly and said, "He is somewhere you can't reach him."

He roared at her in anger and almost finished her on the spot, but suddenly felt War's call. He left the dying dragoness and jumped out the window.

XXX

War stepped through the doorway and into a room that looked like a training area. It was wide and circular and also quite empty. This was a bit unsettling, but when he looked around, he saw that the only two entrances to the room were the one he came from and the one on the opposite side of the little arena. Slowly, he walked through the room and made it all the way to the other side without a hitch. He turned around and looked back the way he had come, but there was nothing there. The room was empty and silent. For some reason, this sent chills down his spine and made him shiver. He shrugged off the strange feeling and stepped forward. The door before him responded to his close proximity and opened revealing a small garden that held an old yew tree in the center and his father, Spire, siting under it, waiting for him. "Hello son. I've been waiting for you. Come. Sit with me. I'd like to talk with you."

War stood in the doorway and looked all around to see if there was anyone hiding in wait for him. When he saw that they were alone, he stepped forward and sat down in front of his father. "It's good to see you again, Arragor."

"It's War."

"Come again?"

"My name is War now."

"Hm, any reason why you changed your name?"

"I didn't change it. Master Malefor did."

Spire remained where he sat not moving or displaying any emotion other than a hint of sadness, disappointment, and hope. "And what do you think about that? Does Malefor treat you well or does he hurt you?"

War snorted and replied, "My master treats me with the utmost respect. He is my superior, but he doesn't throw that in my face. Actually, he's grateful to me for releasing him. As for my name, it suits me. I am the First Disciple. The prophecy starts with War."

"What prophecy?"

War turned to his father, studying him up and down before looking away again. "I really shouldn't say. That's none of your concern. All I can say is that I'm no longer the dragon I once was."

"I don't believe that."

"Oh really?"

"You may have changed your name, and you may have switched your allegiance, but you're still my son. If you're truly one of the forces of darkness and you've really changed then strike me down now."

War looked at his father in the eyes then shifted uncomfortably and looked away again. "You know I can't do that. You may think I'm evil now, but that's not the way we see it. We're trying to make the world a better place, but to do that, old establishments must be taken care of to make way for the new."

"If Malefor was as benevolent as you make him out to be, he wouldn't have corrupted Cynder and used her to kill thousands."

"Master Malefor admits that it was a mistake to force someone to follow him against their will. It eventually came back to bite him. That's why he's recruiting willing troops this time. Speaking of which, I need you to tell me where Zar is."

A tear rolled down Spire's face as he looked up at the sky as if asking it for help. "He's been taken somewhere safe."

"So you mean this whole thing was a set up? All of the guards here are just a decoy?"

Spire nodded and looked back down at his son. "You know, we've been ordered to kill you and your friends."

Pretending not to hear this, War repeated himself. "Where is Zar?"

"Aren't you listening to me!" exclaimed Spire in exasperation. "I'm supposed to be trying to kill you right now! Those were my orders! Do you know how that makes me feel!"

Wrinkling his face up in anger, Arragor shot back a sarcastic reply. "Oh, so now you care about me! I lived with you for twelve years and tried everything I could think of to get you to notice me for longer than a second, and now I have your attention! Hey! It only took joining forces with the Dark Master and razing Warfang several times! Why didn't I think of it sooner!"

Spire lashed out with a paw in an attempt to strike Arragor, but Arragor raised his paw and an invisible force brought Spire's paw to a halt several inches from his face. They glared at one another as Spire fought to reach his son in vain. Finally, Spire let up and lowered his paw. Arragor let an angry puff of air out of his nostrils and said, "It's just habit by now isn't it? You don't even think before you do it. You never did," he added in disgust as he looked away. "Just beat the heck out of your problems and they'll go away. That's always been your philosophy, right? You make me sick. Well, no more. You're not going to hit me anymore."

"Arragor—"

"I don't want to hear it. And to think that for a second, I actually thought you cared when you asked if Malefor hurt me. You're a terrible father. I'm glad mom's not here to see you now."

"Don't you ever talk about her like that, you hear me! She doesn't deserve talk like that, especially not from her own son! How do you think she would feel if she could see_ you_ now!"

"Rragh! Enough!" War summoned his friends. Famine jumped out the third story window on the left and Pestilence came out of the right. They floated down and faced Spire.

"Should we take care of him?" asked Pestilence with a sneer.

War turned away from his father and said, "No, he's not worth the time. Any luck, Famine?"

"No."

"What about you, Pestilence?"

"Zar's not in his room. I don't think he's here."

At the mention of the other's names, Spire's eyes widened in astonishment and he rose to his feet, pointing a claw at the youths. "Wait a minute. War, Famine, and Pestilence? No . . . it can't be."

War turned to his father and smiled, "Ah, you know the legend?"

"But . . . it's only a story."

"Not at all. It's a prophecy. Master Malefor told me about it and it seems to fit. So now you know why we need to find Zar. Tell us where he is."

"If you think I'll tell you where he is, knowing what I do now, you're crazy! Arragor, please! Don't do this. You don't have to follow the Dark Master. You can join us again any time you want."

"I extend the same offer to you father. Knowing what you're up against now, won't you join us?"

"No, I can't. You know that."

"Then this conversation is over. You've wasted enough of my time."

War and his friends were about to take to the skies in search of Zar when Spire said, "Wait."

War turned back to his father with a hopeful look in his eye. "Yes? What is it?"

"What will you do if you can't find Zar?"

"We'll turn this city upside down if we have to."

"You won't kill anyone, will you?"

Silence followed this question for a moment before War replied, "I don't know. Do you think anyone will get in our way?"

Sighing in defeat, Spire lowered his head and said, "For the sake of the citizens of Warfang then. It's not like you'll be able to get to him, but Zar's at the heart of the hive. He's being guarded by Yarrow, but don't let anyone know I told you."

War gave his father a thankful grin and a nod of his head. "Thanks dad. I'll let Malefor know you helped us out. When your side falls, and it will fall, I'll make sure there's a place for you on our side." With this, they flew away, leaving Spire to wonder what he had just done.

As the three youths took to the skies, a blast of bright, purple light lanced across the sky and narrowly missed them. Even though the beam passed between them, they still felt the shockwave that the raw power left in its wake. They turned to see the legendary heroes, Spyro and Cynder, chasing after them and rapidly closing the distance between the two parties. War and his companions took off at top speed, not wanting to waste any more time. This was exactly why they had wanted a short job. Now that Spyro and Cynder were after them, finding their target and escaping with him was going to be a difficult task.

They watched as Warfang sped by beneath them as they made their way to Yarrow's sanctuary. Their powers allowed them to fly skillfully without ever being taught, but they weren't as fast as two older and more experienced dragons. When they looked behind them, they saw that the couple was gaining on them and would be upon them before they could reach the hive. War signaled to his friends and they all turned around in midair to face their pursuers. War sent out a telekinetic pulse, Famine let loose with a sonic roar, and Pestilence spit a disgusting looking liquid at them.

Thankfully, both dragons were able to dodge the pulse, but the attack had forced them into the paths of the other two. Spyro took a direct hit in the chest from the concussive force of the sonic blast, knocking him aside like a fly. Cynder got an even worse deal than her beloved, for the discharge given off by her attacker splattered all over the membrane of her right wing and ate through it like acid in just a few seconds. She screeched in pain as the burned edges of the wound smoked and sizzled. Unfortunately, the hole in her wing was big enough to drastically reduce her lift, and she began to fall down to the city below.

However, Spyro was able to catch her after his recovery and he set her down in the street below before taking off toward their targets again. While he was preoccupied with Cynder, War and his friends took advantage of the distraction and took off toward their goal again. Spyro rose up again and chased after them with the speed of a cheetah. They had gotten a good lead, but Spyro was fueled by anger now, and he closed the gap between them even faster than before, shouting, "I'm tired of you kids! You tormented my son whenever you got the chance, and now you attack Warfang whenever you feel like it! That blow you just sent me was one thing, but you hurt my Cynder! You'll pay for that!"

Little shadows began to lick at the edges of Spyro's frame as his eyes shot daggers at the boys ahead of him. If looks could kill, those boys would have been vaporized in an instant. Only one thought was on Spyro's mind, and it burned like fire in his eyes as the shadows thickened. That thought was revenge. As the shadows consumed him, the hatred in his eyes burned so brightly that they began to shine a brilliant white in stark contrast to the darkness that now covered his whole body. The world blurred around him and time seemed to slow down as he used his powers over time for the first time in what felt like ages. He rapidly approached the boys that fled from him, and when he was right on their tails time sped back up to normal.

Pestilence turned to see the furious dark dragon gnashing at the space an inch from his tail spade. He let out a small squeak and felt an adrenaline rush as he redoubled his efforts to escape the beast behind him. Spyro opened his maw and prepared to show the little twerp the true power of the Purple Dragon. Small particles of light began to form and gather deep in the warrior's throat. A faint, purple mist coalesced in his mouth, and when it began to pour out of the corners of his mouth, he let it all out and aimed it right at Pestilence. Since the black crystal armor that the traitors wore was created by a purple dragon, this was the only thing that prevented him from being turned completely to stone. However, as the defensive powers given by one purple dragon and the offensive powers of another fought each other for victory, something had to give.

Though the armor protected him from most of the blast, the end of Pestilence's tail, the tips and edges of his wings, and the entire left half of his face were turned to stone. After a second, equally powerful blast, all of his paws were petrified from the tips of his claws to just below the joints in his knees. His stone parts were now becoming heavy and weighed him down. On top of that, his wings were now harder to beat up and down. Some of the joints were frozen in place, and he didn't feel that he could keep himself up for much longer.

Luckily for the terrible trio, Yarrow's garden could be seen just ahead and Spyro was beginning to burn out his powers due to excessive use of his greater ones. He would have been able to last longer, but his exercise with Wither had left him feeling drained. Now that he was trying to use power, he was rapidly running out of what little he had recovered. Once the shadows receded and the glow in Spyro's eyes burned out, he knew he was spent. He also knew that pursuing the boys with no more elemental power to back him up would be dangerous, but he couldn't give up. He cursed himself for running out of magic to fuel his abilities, but was suddenly struck by an idea.

By now, he was becoming desperate and he figured that if it didn't work now, it never would. Spyro closed his eyes and cleared his mind, putting away his anger at what these kids had done to Cynder. Looking up at his target, he thought of him only as a threat that needed to be eliminated. He watched his flailing target with utter indifference as he reached into the empty feeling his son had described earlier. After a second or two of searching, he found what he was looking for. He felt the total emptiness wash over him, but there was something else there. Something was tugging at him with all its might, trying to hold the power back from him. He wrestled with the invisible force within him and after what seemed like the biggest internal struggle of his life, a small, black cloud of nothingness formed before him.

A sense of victory rose up within him, but it was short lived. Almost immediately, the invisible force from before attacked him and flooded his mind with memories. He watched as he stood at the gateway to the dark realms in Convexity once more, about to take on Cynder. The images swirled around him in a smoky haze and when the colors settled again, he was standing upon the Burned Lands at the inner edge of the Belt of Fire, mourning the loss of Ignitus. The world was blown apart again and the pieces reformed to show him the moment he had saved the world. All around him, he could hear Cynder confessing her love to him. Then the light emanating from his body blocked out the scene. When the light faded, he stood before an altar in the middle of Warfang again. Cynder stood next to him and Cyril was standing before them telling them that they could now exchange vows. The world swirled away again and focused once more to show him the night of his wedding. Cynder stroked his face with a loving paw and nuzzled him before lying down in front of him. He blinked his eyes, and the memory shifted again, revealing the same room, but in a different time. He was lying in bed with Cynder. They both looked lovingly into each other's eyes before looking down at a solitary egg that rested between them.

As these thoughts and images coursed through Spyro's mind, he lost control of his emotions and the power was lost to him. For whatever reason, he still couldn't do it. He watched in disappointment as the already meager cloud he had generated wavered and shrank down until it was no more. He looked up to see that his targets were flying right into the hive. That meant they knew where Zar was. Someone must have told them, and he had a pretty good idea who it was, but that wasn't important at the moment. He needed to help Yarrow guard Zar so that they wouldn't take him away. They were already too much for them now, but if there were four of them, Warfang would be at their mercy. He prepared to dive down after them, but his mind began to buzz and Yarrow spoke to him. "_No, Spyro. You've done your part. Now go back and tend to the other elders. I'll take care of them_."

"_I can't let you do it on your own, Yarrow_."

"_Yes, you can. You're out of power and that makes you an easy target. Think, Spyro. You have a loving wife and a young son that need you. For the sake of your family, go back to them. Besides, you know very good and well I'm not alone. Now run along. I'll take care of it from here._"

Spyro hovered above the hive for a moment and watched below as the final preparations for Yarrow's secret plan began to unfold. Realizing, for the first time, the magnitude of Yarrow's abilities, Spyro felt no guilt in turning around and heading back to take care of Cynder. The three intruders watched as he flew away and Pestilence gave a strange sounding sigh out of the right side of his mouth. "Fank gooneff. I fought e'd nevah weave."

Famine raised an eyebrow and said, "You'd better have Master Malefor look at that when we get back. It looks tough to fix, but if anyone can do it, it's him."

After this, War chimed in. "Yeah, you've got that right, but I'm worried. We've all heard the legends of Spyro's bravery and heroism. He wouldn't just give up that easily. Something must be up." Together they all turned around to get a look at the hive. What they saw made their mouths drop open and their eyes nearly pop out of their heads. War opened and closed his mouth, trying to say something. After several attempts, he settled on, "Oh, crap."

XXX

Elleca dashed around another corner and was once again held up by everyone else. She waited impatiently for them to catch up and once they did, she had to wait some more while Wither stood still in one place. He raised his head and felt the strange energy again. For some odd reason, the presence of their attackers was acting like a giant magnet for Wither. He felt drawn to the energy their armor was giving off and his friends were using him to find the intruders. After a few seconds, he whipped his head toward another street and said, "That way!"

They all took off in the direction he had indicated as fast as their little legs could carry them. As they passed by doorways on either side of the street, they could see dragons hiding in their houses and trying to protect their children. The other children inside watched in awe as their fellow classmates ran through the streets looking for the fight, ready to jump in as soon as they found it.

As they were running through the streets, a humming wave passed through the hive mind and the city seemed to come alive. Trees uprooted themselves and began to follow the young dragons, their roots half walking, half slithering like think, powerful snakes. Flowers began to rapidly mutate and become fascinating, yet horrifying monsters with eyes and more thorns than usual. Ivy growing up the sides of buildings dropped down to the sidewalks and streets below. The thin and fragile looking vines grew thick and the leaves began to drip with a mysterious liquid. All of the beautiful floral decorations throughout the city had been transformed into an army of vicious plants that were walking, bouncing, crawling, and snaking their way to the same place, Yarrow's hive.

The plants weren't the only ones to mobilize. Along with the strange hum that activated the flora, a call was sent out to the citizens of Warfang. Everywhere, Yarrow's voice could be heard chanting, "_All of able body and mind, come! Lend yourselves to us, and together we can quell our foes! All who wish to join the fight, submit to the hive!_"

All of the dragons standing around laid down and allowed roots and vines to cover their bodies and creep up to their heads. As the plants covered them, they fell silent and stopped moving. Their breathing became steady and rhythmic like that of one in a deep sleep. The group of young dragons stopped running and watched as an older dragon slept in the street with roots and vines laced all over his body. When they moved closer to inspect him, they could see that the plants were faintly glowing a pale green color like the inside of Yarrow's dome. Psy lifted one of the sleeping dragon's eyelids to reveal that the iris and the pupil were gone. The eyes were a blank white at first glance, but upon closer inspection, they saw that they, too, were glowing like the plants. It was just difficult to see in the daylight. Psy dropped the eyelid and it fell back into place, making it look as though the dragon had simply decided to take a nap in the street. "Wow, Yarrow's got some tricks he's been keeping secret. I never knew he could do this stuff."

Wither replied, "He's not the Grand High Elder for nothing."

They continued on their way, following the plants as they went. The hum of the hive was everywhere now. Wherever they looked, there were plants moving and dragons sleeping. It didn't take long to reach Yarrow's house, and once they did, they stood in awe of the sight before them.

XXX

Spyro flew through the air to reach Cynder. He weaved in and out between the tall buildings that towered high above the city like giant sentinels. Once he retraced his path back to where Cynder had gone down, he landed and called out to her. "Cynder! Cynder, where are you!"

"I'm over here," came her reply. She sounded like she was in pain and there was also exhaustion in her voice. Spyro ran to an open doorway where Cynder lay licking her wound, trying to clean it.

"Let me see it." Spyro gently moved the paw that she was using to hide the injury from him so he could take a look. He couldn't contain a gasp of surprise from his initial reaction to what he saw. The damage to Cynder's wing was extensive to an alarming degree. A gaping hole stared back at him. The edges of the wound were still smoking a bit and upon further inspection, he saw that the damage was actually still continuing to spread at a slow but steady rate. Cynder's tongue was also burned from her attempts to clean the wound and a tiny pock mark was forming in the ground where she had spit out the trace amounts of acid. Spyro stared at everything and said, "This is awful! What could possibly do something like this? No poison dragon can do this much damage and you're even highly resistant to poison!"

She looked up at her dismayed husband and replied, "I don't think it's poison. It's something else. Whatever it is, I'm trying to fight it, but it's winning. I don't know how much longer I can hold it off."

"What do you mean?"

"Watch." Cynder relaxed and laid down. The strained look on her face eased up, but the strange corrosion in her wing began to eat away at her more vigorously. She tensed back up and willed her strength into the wound, slowing the process, but not completely stopping it.

Spyro's expression grew grave and defeated. "No, that's not possible. What's feeding it? It can't just keep spreading, can it?"

"I don't know, but I think we should check on the rest of the elders. Some of them may be infected with the same thing."

"Are you sure you can walk?"

She nodded and got up, leaning on him for support while they made their way to Zar's house. They had to stop several times so Cynder could catch her breath and gather her strength. After a few minutes, they made it to the dwelling and looked on at the aftermath of the battle that had apparently taken place. Hexus and Noh were helping Cyril and Terrador to their feet and supporting the majority of their weight. It was clear that they had suffered some heavy blows. Hexus and Noh didn't seem too badly beaten up, but Volteer was a different story. When Spyro and Cynder asked what happened, Hexus told them the story. "Those demons tore us to pieces. Cyril and Terrador here took several serious hits consecutively. Noh and I were just knocked out. We woke up a minute ago, but I don't think Volteer is so lucky."

Spyro grimaced at the limp figure several feet away. "What did they do to him?"

Terrador spoke up now, grunting through the pain. "It didn't look like much. Xath attacked him head on, but barely got a scratch on him. At first, he seemed fine, but then he started breathing heavily. After a few seconds, he lost his balance and just fell on his own."

They all made their way over to the dragon in question and looked him over. He was pale and still unconscious. His breathing was indeed labored, and when they touched him, he felt like he was on fire. Spyro rolled him over and everyone fell silent when they saw his paw. There was no amount of uncertainty that not even Yarrow could save it. What had started off as an insignificant scratch had grown into a festering wound that looked like it had been rotting for about a week. The paw hung on by a thread of tissue that was rapidly degenerating due to a strange kind of acid much like the one eating Cynder's wing. Spyro reckoned that his whole leg would already be gone if it weren't for the armor that was slowing the damage of the infection for Volteer.

Spyro made a quick decision and dug into Volteer's leg with his claws. He ripped and tore his way through the leg just above the advancing infection. Once he reached the bone, he placed one paw under the infected section and slammed his other down above the cuts he made. A sickening crack resounded through the streets and Spyro threw the severed appendage off to the side. Everyone watched in horror as the now severed limb went through the entire cycle of breaking down in a matter of moments. In just a few seconds, all that was left was the bone, which continued to break down at a slower yet frightening rate.

Spyro gulped and looked at Cynder's wing. She saw the look in his eyes and laid her wing down, spreading it across the pavement. "Do it. It's the only way, and you know it. Just hurry. The quicker you are, the more of it you save."

Spyro whispered in her ear as the rest of the elders watched in sadness, "I'm sorry. It'll be over soon." He then placed a solitary claw on the membrane just beyond the infection and pierced it down to the concrete below. He began to trace his claw through the membrane just outside the infection. Cynder started to cry out and squirm in pain as the tender nerves in her wing shrieked in agony. After a few seconds, Hexus and Noh stepped forward and held her down to keep the cut clean and prevent rips. Tears ran down Spyro's face as he continued to cut Cynder's wing membrane and listened to her scream. It took only second, but it felt like a lifetime. When the corrupted section of her wing was finally removed, it instantly fizzled and disappeared.

Hexus and Noh let go of Cynder and she stood up to take a look at her wing. The cut was clean and hadn't been torn, but she was still in pain. Blood dripped out of the missing section of her membrane, but she seemed relived now that she was free of the acidic corruption. "Ah, it's gone. Thank you, Spyro."

"Don't worry, Cynder. Wing membranes grow back."

"Yeah, but paws don't."

Everyone looked back down at Volteer's bleeding stump. It was still a devastating injury, but at least the infection was gone. Cyril looked away from the messy sight and said, "He's not going to feel so good when he wakes up."

Noh stepped forward and said, "I know some techniques to stop the bleeding, but he'll be in a lot of pain until we reach Yarrow."

Suddenly remembering something, Terrador said, "Wait, doesn't Yarrow know how to regenerate missing limbs?"

Spyro gave a sigh and said, "Yes, but it takes a lot of time and energy. I don't know if he can find the time to do something like that."

Just then, Spire came through the broken doorway, helping Vivian outside and lightly smacking her in the face. "Don't go to sleep, Vivian. You have to stay awake." There was blood oozing out of the back of her head and one of her horns had broken off.

Spyro walked up to Spire and took Vivian from him. He took her back to the group outside and placed her in the care of Hexus and Noh. When he was satisfied that she was in good paws, he rounded on Spire and looked him up and down with a critical gaze. "Looks like you got off easy. Mind telling me how they knew to go to the heart of the hive?"

"Please, not now. We still need to find Valorie. She never came out of the building. Action now, talk later."

Spyro grudgingly agreed and went inside with him. They went up the stairs to her post and found her lying on the floor in Zar's doorway. They lifted her up and carried her between them. Getting her down the stairs was difficult, but once it was done, they took her outside and laid her down with Volteer. After looking her over, Noh said, "It looks like the same thing that plagued Volteer and Cynder, but I can't see where the corruption is rooted."

"It looks like she's just sick to me," said Hexus.

"Hmm, Xath alone has caused much trouble," said Spyro. "These boys keep getting new and stranger powers. I wonder how Malefor is doing it."

"I may know the answer to that," replied Spire.

Spyro turned back to Spire and said, "Yes, start talking. You need to redeem yourself anyway."

Spire took a deep breath and looked at everyone around him. They all had disapproving looks on their faces, so he began to fix his reputation by revealing information about their mysterious enemies. "Have any of you ever heard of the Legend of the Fearsome Four?"


	17. Chapter 16 Life and Death

Chapter 16- Life and Death

Wither was shocked when he beheld the humbling sight before him. Yarrow had crafted the hive into a monster. Before, it was merely a dome made out of roots and vines with thorns sticking out every which way. It looked nothing like that now. Yarrow's entire house acted as a ring that wrapped around the garden that Yarrow kept in the center. Normally, one couldn't even see the garden from outside the home, but today was a bit different. A monstrous, writhing, pulsating creature stood rooted in the center of the garden. The house looked a little like the lip of a gigantic pot for the massive being that continued to grow in the center. It had a long stalk that was about twenty feet thick and three hundred feet tall. Several massive tentacles with bulky, spiked ends grew up out of the ground all around the main body of the beast, each stretching at least fifty feet. The creature had two arms that ended with fingers as big as a youngling and sharp as knives. At the top of the stalk, where one would expect to see some kind of canopy like that of a tree, or a huge flower bloom, there sat something far more unsettling, a head. The head had a crown of nine long spikes protruding from the top and curling slightly toward the back. It had a gaping mouth that dripped with a foul looking substance and ugly looking thorns for teeth. The monster also had eyes, which were difficult to look at for fear of having them stare back. There were two beady little eyes that watched the ground far below. They were positioned in the middle of what everyone supposed was its face, right below two large, bulbous domes that rested on its forehead, protruding out just enough to be noticeable. Upon closer inspection, one could see that the creature wasn't just one massive entity that had grown from out of nowhere, but thousands upon thousands of intertwined trees, bushes, flowers, grasses, weeds, vines, and anything else that could help form the collective.

After looking the creature over, Renna asked what everyone else was thinking. "What . . . is _that_?"

Wither recalled the tales that Yarrow had recounted for him in the past and answered without looking away as he continued to observe the thing in awe, "It's a Ranvacoya."

"A what?" asked Psy.

"A Ranvacoya is a monstrous creature that life dragons can bring to life when they are lent enough energy to sustain it. The entire city must be powering it, and Yarrow is acting as a conduit, channeling all the energy into it. Come on. We need to get in there."

"What! Next to that thing? Are you serious?" asked Roxy in a panic.

Looking back up at the titan, Wither replied, "Don't worry. It may look dangerous, but Yarrow's controlling it. You could even say that it _is_ Yarrow right now. He won't hurt us. Now let's go!"

Trusting in their Wither's confidence, his friends followed him up to the front door, through the house, and into the garden. Arragor and his group of thugs were already there, staring up at the Ranvacoya, possibly wondering how to take it down or perhaps just trying not to panic. The Ranvacoya looked down at them and opened its massive jaws, and to everyone's surprise, it began to speak. Its voice was that of a thousand beings chanting as one, all of them speaking softly to allow the collection to mingle together and form a single consciousness, addressing the intruders as a unit.

"Ah, we have visitors. Tell us, my foes, why have you come?"

War shivered as the beast spoke and found himself almost unable to maintain eye contact. Breathing quickly and trying to shoo away the butterflies in his stomach, he steeled himself as he shouted up at the monster with more courage than he felt, "We have come for Zar! Hand him over and there won't have to be a fight!" Once he was finished with his demand, he blinked and backed up a step. Even he seemed shocked by his bravery. In truth, he was frightened out of his mind, which was quite apparent as the Ranvacoya watched him quiver under its gaze.

As the creature stared back at him with its beady, contemplating eyes, it swayed on the spot ever so slightly, towering over the youths and breathing huge breaths, causing its body to expand and contract. Its appraisal of the orange dragon was quick, but noticeable, especially since it gave the young upstart a hideous, thorny grin before replying to the tiny dragon's demands. "Zar is one of us now. He belongs to the hive."

War snarled and shouted, "Fiend! Release him at once!"

The Ranvacoya merely chuckled at this, eliciting more shivers from his opponents, and replied, "Zar is free to go any time he likes. He is not being held prisoner. He submitted to the hive just before you got here. However, once joined with the collective, one's thoughts and memories become entangled with all the other members', and it becomes difficult to discern the difference between one's thoughts as an individual and those of everyone else. We live together now, as one, and breaking his bonds with us will be all but impossible."

Letting a low growl escape his throat, War said, "Then at least let us see him."

Allowing the same wicked looking grin to creep across its face again, the creature replied, "Ah, but you're already talking to us."

Glancing sideways at the beast, War asked in a suspicious tone, "What do you mean by that?"

The Ranvacoya's eyes, which were currently as green as spring time, shifted out of focus for a moment. The irises slowly faded to a light blue before the creature focused on the youths once more. "Hello, Arragor."

Everyone in the garden let out quiet gasps of surprise. Zar's voice rose up through the collective, speaking above all the others, but still allowing them to whisper and mumble along with him. Stepping forward again, War asked, "Zar?"

Becoming still, the Ranvacoya replied, "Yes, Arragor. It is me, Zar."

Forgetting his terror for a moment, War looked the monster before him over, asking in utter disbelief, "Zar, how is this happening?"

The Ranvacoya straightened up, taking a deep breath and rolling its eyes up to the sky. After a moment, it let out a big sigh and said, "It's glorious, Arragor, the sense of belonging, knowing you'll never be alone, having all this power. Oh, the power, Arragor, you have no idea! You should join us, Arragor. You should all join us. Submit to the hive, and you'll never have to worry about anything ever again."

War backed up a step again at this. "No. No, you may have Zar's eyes, and you may have Zar's voice, but I can still hear the rest of the city speaking with you. You may think you have all this new power now, but you're not the one in control. Deep down you _know_ the hive is influencing you. You're smart, Zar, really smart. I know that. You may feel like you want to stay, but it's not you. The hive wants you to stay. You may be a part of the hive, but you're an individual, too. You don't have to listen to them, Zar. Separate yourself from the hive for just a second, and see if you feel the same on your own."

The Ranvacoya faltered for a moment as it pondered these words, but then the domes on the creature's forehead suddenly opened and revealed another set of massive eyes. They shone every conceivable color in a brilliant array that lit up the creature's head and made it hard to stare at for a moment. As the upper eyes dazzled in place, the clarity that had begun to form in the Ranvacoya's rendition of Zar's eyes was washed away and replaced by the peaceful expression they had held before. Zar's voice was drowned out by the others as it mingled with the collective again. "No. We are happy. We are in control. We are all powerful. And you can't have us."

The massive creature raised its head up and stretched to its full height. It towered over the intruders and brought one of the gigantic tentacles down on War. He was instantly pounded a foot into the ground. When the tentacle rose up, his body could be seen lying limp in the small crater. The armor he wore had protected him from the deadly force that was used against him, but it was clearly damaged from the concussive blow, sparking and releasing violent flashes on energy that lashed out like dark purple lightning.

Famine and Pestilence took defensive positions on either side of their fallen leader and attacked the tentacles that came at them. Famine was able to blow one back with a sonic roar, but the effect was only temporary. The giant vines were highly resilient and were only repulsed by the blows before trying to come back for more. Pestilence's attacks only appeared more effective. He tried his best to spit and slash at the Ranvacoya's lashing fingers when they neared him even with his body partially frozen in stone. This infected the plants, causing the corruption to spread, but before it could go too far, the Ranvacoya's body rejected the infected plants and replaced the missing bits by more twisting vines that regenerated any damaged sections.

As both of the attackers fought against the plants, they received several blows, unable to hold all of them at bay. Their armor protected them from the blows that the tentacles were able to land, but the force of the hits sent them reeling every time and they quickly began to tire. They tried to run in opposite directions, but no matter where they ran, the ground around them was teeming with a forest of thick, wriggling tendrils. Roots shot out of the ground and grabbed at their feet and tails, but they were just barely able to dodge them. Pestilence clawed at them with awkward movements that were exceedingly difficult to maneuver, and his poison ate away at them as a result. Famine bit down on them, using unnaturally strong jaw muscles and razor sharp teeth to chomp them to bits.

The Ranvacoya crossed its arms as it watched them struggle against the violent forest from above. "You can do this as long as you like. Go ahead and tire yourselves out. We'd rather not kill all of you . . . There is still a chance for redemption. Should you choose to hand over that armor of yours, we'll stop attacking you right now and heal all of your injuries as we're sure you're accumulating quite a lot of them. We can discuss punishment later, but we promise you we'll go easier on you if you give in. Your sentence is going to be much harsher if we have to beat you into submission. Surely you know that you cannot win. We're not even trying."

As the attackers continued to fight the onslaught of vegetation and ignore the giant observing them, the Ranvacoya turned its attention to Wither and his friends. It uncrossed its arms and waved at the group, giving them one of its horrifying smiles. "Relax. We have this under control."

Shooting the mountain of plants a huge smile back, Wither shouted to the sky, "How's the weather up there, Yarrow!"

Chuckling at the youngling below, the Ranvacoya replied, "Oh Wither, it's not just me in here, you know. Everyone's doing their part."

A sudden pulse of powerful energy lit up the section of the now barren courtyard where all of the chaos was taking place, gaining the Ranvacoya's attention again. Reaching down with both of its humongous arms, it picked up its two enemies, one in each hand. Pestilence began to secrete a vile acid that caused the hand he was held in to smoke and sizzle. In response to this, he was raised over three hundred feet in the air, high above the Ranvacoya's head, and slammed down to the ground below. Seeing the lethal move coming, Pestilence commanded all of the energy in his armor to divert to the shielding around him. Powerful though it was, it didn't stop the impact from breaching the shield, cracking the armor in several places, and knocking him unconscious in an instant.

With Pestilence and War taken care of, the Ranvacoya brought Famine up to eye level. "Give in, Obsidius. You cannot defeat us."

"Talk all you want, but we're not leaving without Zar."

The Ranvacoya snarled at him and allowed Yarrow's voice to take the fore, pushing the others to the background. "Why do you fight? What is your cause? Do you take pleasure in attacking the citizens of the city you grew up in? How important is Zar that you would dare oppose us?"

Famine squinted his eyes as he stared into the Ranvacoya's for a moment. "Yarrow?"

"Yes. Who else? I am the one who controls us. Zar belongs to us, to _me_ right now because he wouldn't make the right decision on his own. I tried to convince him not to try to escape me and join up with you, but he wouldn't listen. He needs the guidance of the hive to help him. Now two things can happen from here. You can either take off that armor and let me destroy it or force me to finish you. Either way, it's your choice."

Famine squirmed around in the Ranvacoya's grasp, trying to free himself, but to no avail. He looked below at his friend's unconscious bodies, their armor too damaged to allow it to take over for them. After a couple seconds, he also noticed Wither and his friends watching everything. Then he looked back at the Ranvacoya and said, "You know, there's a third option that you haven't considered."

The creature's eyes watched him with suspicion before asking, "And just what might that be?"

Famine suddenly used one of his free paws to touch the helmet on his head. "Master Malefor, General Famine reporting in. We have failed the mission, but have the target in our sights. Your assistance is requested."

After hearing this, everyone stood stock-still, waiting to see what would happen. Seconds later, the air shuddered at the edge of the once beautiful garden opposite of Wither and his friends. Wither could feel the strange energy wash over him and course all around him and watched as the portal opened up and a large, menacing purple dragon stepped out of it and into the garden. There was no mistaking that Malefor was no ordinary dragon. Anyone else who would have entered the garden would have ogled the Ranvacoya and lost themselves in a panic, but from the moment Malefor had stepped out of the portal, his eyes were upon Wither. The two dragons stared at each other from across the vast emptiness of the garden, ignoring the Ranvacoya that turned to get a look at the new intruder.

Once the massive creature could see Malefor, it threw Famine at him with all its might. The armored youngling slammed into a previously invisible barrier that shifted into focus once disturbed before falling to the ground at his master's feet, unconscious. A few seconds later, the hazy bubble that wrapped around the Dark Master faded out of view and he could be seen surveying the scene with an indifferent stare. The Ranvacoya had no problem taking care of the trio that had caused everyone else so much grief, but Malefor was a whole other story. He wasn't much bigger than the boys when compared to the size of the Ranvacoya, but somehow everyone got the feeling that this didn't matter too much.

The huge beast turned to Wither and his friends and shouted, "Run! Now! You have to get out of here!"

Taking a step forward, Wither said, "But Yarrow—"

"Don't argue with me young dragon! You're not ready to face Malefor yet! Go!"

"No, Yarrow! I'm not running away!" Wither leaped forward and shifted into the air right behind Malefor just inside his barrier. As he closed the distance between him and the Dark Master, he pulled his dark crystal out of a black cloud and plunged it deep into Malefor's neck. The purple dragon let out a growl of pain as the sharp point pierced his hide, but started to laugh once the initial pain was gone.

Turning his head, trying to address Wither properly, Malefor spoke in a deep, rumbling voice that was every bit as twisted as he was. "Nice try youngling, but you'll have to do better than that. One measly black crystal will take a life time to drain all of my power." He reached back, pulled the crystal out of his neck, and tossed it aside. It was consumed by one of Wither's black clouds before it could even hit the ground. Afterwards, Wither dug his claws deep into Malefor's back and turned transparent. Once he was settled in, he began to drain away at Malefor's strength. This only made the Dark Master chuckle some more. "How cute. You've learned some interesting tricks on your own, but you still know less about the Void than I do. Remember, I found it first. I know how it works."

Malefor started to give off the strange energy that Wither could feel again, and he reached around and pulled the youngling off his back. Wither didn't know how Malefor was able to touch him, but he could, and now he was terrified. However, the Ranvacoya slammed several of its tentacles into Malefor, loosening his grip on Wither and allowing him to escape. He shifted over to his friends again and told them to get back. The Dark Master became enraged by the attack and launched a purple beam of pure, concentrated Convexity at the Ranvacoya, blowing huge chunks of it away and setting it on fire.

"No!" shouted Wither. He watched as the shock from the blast made the massive guardian whip back, smoking from the raging fire that consumed the vegetation that made up its body.

The Dark Master took to the air and began to circle the Ranvacoya, firing volley after volley of Convexity blasts into the monster. Each blast bloomed outward in a violent purple wave that distorted the image of burning vegetation behind it like rippling waves in a pond after a stone is thrown in. Extensive damage was being inflicted on the Ranvacoya, but it still held on, trying to knock Malefor out of the air with its gigantic arms. As the fire burned away, consuming that which wasn't already completely blown away by the attacks, the creature opened its mouth and it upper eyes. In a last ditch effort, the beast let out everything it had, pumping all of its energy into three beams of white hot energy that spiraled around each other, chasing Malefor through the air, hunting him down and eventually colliding with him. He was sent crashing into the inner wall of Yarrow's house, where a plume of dust was scattered into the air.

Everyone cheered when the Dark Master went down, but their celebration was short lived. The Ranvacoya that towered over them swayed for a moment, watching as a giant column of smoke drifted away from its own body and up into the sky. Then it fell. It hit the ground with earth shattering force, but as a final act of defiance, it chose to land where Malefor had fallen. Wither and the rest of his gang held their breath, waiting to see if Yarrow would emerge from the wreckage, but to their dismay, it was Malefor who got up first. He blew the piece of burning vegetation that held him down into oblivion and charged toward the base of the stalk. Another blast erupted and Malefor gestured with both paws, using his powers to drag two beings out of the hollow that he revealed. One was the unconscious body of Zar, who was carefully picked up and placed one the ground where Malefor told the bodies of his other disciples to go. They floated through the air and placed themselves next to their master, where they waited quietly in their sleep.

The other figure was not so lucky. Yarrow looked up at Malefor's face and smiled. "Malefor. My greatest student, and my biggest failure."

Malefor smirked at the dragon that lay before him and said, "We meet again, old man. After all these years and all I've done, you're still not proud of me. You never were, you stubborn fool. Nothing I ever did was enough for you!" With this last exclamation, the smile drained away from Malefor's face and was replaced by one of fury, hatred, and something else. Wither watched the exchange with a mixture of horror and curiosity. No one had ever told him that Yarrow was Malefor's old teacher. The youngling observed the look of disappointment on Yarrow's face and the resulting look in Malefor's eyes. It almost seemed like some sort of pleading or longing. Then the Dark Master continued. "Why? Why were you never satisfied? Why could you never afford me any praise? Answer me, old man. I want to know why I was never good enough to you."

Yarrow raised his sorrowful eyes and looked deep into Malefor's, checking to see if there was still some trace of him there. After a moment of searching, unable to find his former student, he shook his head and replied, "Because every time I looked into those eyes of yours, I saw your heart. You know that I've always been able to see the hearts of others through their eyes. Every time I looked at yours, I could see that it was growing into something more twisted and corrupted than anything the world has ever known. The others couldn't see it, and I chose to ignore it, and for that, I am sorry." After this Yarrow turned to Wither and said as Malefor opened his maw, "Don't worry, Wither. Everything will be alright."

The purple light gathering in Malefor's throat lashed out in a bright flash, washing the horrific image from sight. It wasn't long before the light died down and revealed something that Wither would remember until his dying day. Yarrow's body lay peacefully at Malefor's feet, a faint smile still blessing his face. Wither looked at him with a numb feeling. He wasn't dead. He couldn't be. He had lived for so long. He was his best friend, the one person he could go to for anything. They had been through so much together, but now . . . now . . .

Wither looked up at the Dark Master, the cause of endless suffering. He had killed countless innocent lives and for what? He had corrupted and controlled his mother, taking away her childhood. His father was never given the opportunity to grow up normally either. No one's lives had been normal while Malefor's influence plagued the land. All of these things were the fault of this one dragon, this one beast. How could something so evil be gifted with so much power? The very idea was inconceivable. Had the gods no mercy? Had they no shame? What kind of sick joke was it to take the time to build such a beautiful world, just to send in a ruthless war machine to wreck it all? Wither looked into Malefor's eyes with disbelief and whispered, "No."

"Yes," hissed Malefor in return.

Wither held his head low. Through his grief, he felt something begin to whisper to him. **"You're strong enough."**

"_For what?"_ asked Wither in despair.

"**For this. You want him gone. Just like your friend. Take him away."**

"_He's too strong."_

"**No, you're strong enough."**

"_I know I'm not strong enough."_

"**The Void will give you strength. It is always with you. I am always with you. With us, you are always strong enough."**

"_I want to make him go away. Forever."_

"**Then let me in."**

Wither suddenly whipped his head up, letting out a deafening cry that shattered all of the windows in Yarrow's house and knocked his friends down since they were unfortunate enough to be standing right behind him. He spread his wings and the air began to ripple around his body in intricate, flowing streams that wove around his body, forming a net like structure. His eyes began to glow black and his tail spade opened up into tiny slivers that swirled in circles around his crystal at a violent speed. The air around his crystal rippled the most, almost as if its very presence was ripping the fabric of the universe apart. Wither pointed his tail and the crystal at Malefor and his followers. The black crystal armor his disciples wore instantly disintegrated. The pieces crumbled to dust and were swept into the crystal. Malefor was brought to his knees with a grunt as he moved a paw to push his followers out of the way so that they would not be consumed by the yawning darkness of the Void. Wither could feel him summoning up the strange energy again, but all of it was torn away and cast into the Void as fast as Malefor could generate it. The cycle seemed to repeat itself in a never ending circle. Malefor drew power from an indiscernible source and Wither took it all away.

Once he was able to adjust to the hostile environment, Malefor opened his eyes and gazed upon Wither as though he were a massive pile of gold. In his awestruck state he was able to whisper, "The Destroying Creation."

Wither advanced upon the Dark Master at a slow but steady rate. With each step he took, small pebbles and torn up clumps of dirt were pulled into the vortex around his body and lost forever. Before he got too close, Malefor shook himself out of his reverie and said, "I wouldn't come any closer if I were you. Our powers cancel each other out. We are at a stalemate."

"No! I'll kill you!"

Such fury, thought Malefor. The pure, unbridled hatred seething out of Wither was fueling his abilities in a way he couldn't do on his own. Yes, this was definitely the Destroying Creation. There was no doubt about that. Even the youngling's very words slammed into him with more force than Yarrow's Ranvacoya had. Malefor's shield began to quiver and he was actually forced back a step by the powerful exclamation. "Not today you won't. Not while I control the Amophis."

"Enough talk you monster! This ends now!"

Malefor had to give the little guy credit, he certainly wasn't lacking in the confidence department, and he definitely had the goods to back up his threats, but he was still just a youngling. "Fool. You know only half the power the Void has to offer. It's a shame you were able to claim it before I came back. That complicates things."

Now Wither faltered. Some memories began to trickle back to him. The scene flashed before his eyes and the Chronicler stood before him once again. 'You will represent the forces of good, for you already have a hold on half the power, but the other half is for the forces of evil.' Wither glared at Malefor, all emotion in his eyes hidden by the dark glow. Even so, it was apparent that there was a mixture of anger and sorrow on his face. Now curiosity joined in for a moment. "What do you mean by half the power?"

Malefor smiled knowingly and said, "Well, now that I have your attention, maybe I can teach you something yet. Wither, you are a very unique being, much like a purple dragon. However, there are many things that set you apart from all dragons, including one such as myself. Purple Dragons are different because we can learn any element. Void Kings, or nothing dragons, are even more special because their powers are unique for several reasons.

"First of all, the powers of a Void King are unlimited. Most dragons, like your friends over there, fuel their powers with energy, but Void Kings don't need energy to work their magic. The second rule of the Void is that the powers of a Void King actually have a sense of loyalty. This means that once a dragon claims a certain aspect of the Void's power, they gain a hold over it. This is to say that even as a Purple Dragon, I myself am not able to use the powers that you do. No one can. Now that you have claimed them, they are loyal to you and you alone. The third thing you should know is that the Void's power is twofold. You discovered one half of the Void's power, the fact that it has none. This is the Nothing side of the Void, also known as the Shield. However, there is a Sword, too. This is the Amophis side of the Void, the side that I now control. Luckily, I was able to claim it back before you figured it out."

Wither took all of this in, his head reeling with the new information. Keeping his crystal trained on Malefor, he began to press him for more. "What is Amophis?"

"Ah, as a Void King, I'm sure you're naturally able to feel it. I'm using it to keep myself alive right now. From what you know of the Void, it has nothing in it, because it doesn't exist, right? The Void is nowhere and yet it is all around us. You can swallow up energy and matter and whisk it away to the Void, am I right? Well, I'm sure you've wondered where it goes once it's there. This is an inversion of the laws of nature. When energy is spent or matter is stored away, it has to go somewhere. This is not the case for the Void. It technically does not exist and therefore nothing in it can exist either.

"Now let me explain something to you. When you wave your paw through the air, where do you think the energy it took to perform that action goes? I'm not talking about the transference of energy from your paw to the air. That specific moment, that exact paw movement can't be reproduced. You can do the same movement again and again, but it will never be _that_ one again. Sure the energy is just transferred somewhere else, but the energy that went into that paw movement can never be put into it again because it already happened. What happens to this specific instance where the energy is used up? Now that the energy has been used up in this instance in a way that it can never be done again, it ceases to exist."

A gasp escaped Wither's throat as comprehension suddenly dawned on him. "So you're saying . . ."

"That this energy that been spent, that you can never get back, becomes nonexistent energy. This nonexistent energy gathers in the only place where nonexistent things can reside."

"The Void."

"Exactly. This nonexistent energy becomes inverted by the laws of its nature. It's energy, but it doesn't exist. Now that you understand how that works, let me put something into perspective for you. Think about everything that's ever happened in the history of the entire universe. Be it a gust of wind, a violent explosion, or the flow of a river, everything is in a constant state of motion, always expending energy, and once that energy is spent, it can't be done the same way again. Nonexistent energy is always being born. There is an unlimited supply, and it doesn't end there. This nonexistent energy, this Amophis, can also be born of energy that never was used. Take young War over there, what was his name? Arragor? Let's say he wanted to attack you by hitting you in the face, but changed his mind and decided to engulf you in fire. Not only would the energy he spent breathing fire at you generate Amophis due to the fact that it won't exist anymore, but the energy that he _would_ have spent hitting you is also turned into Amophis because it never existed in the first place. Now think not only about everything that has ever happened, but everything that ever could have happened. Amophis is endless. There is no end to its capabilities. Even now, if you think I could actually run out, think about where it's going. Where are you putting the energy, Wither? The Amophis may be nonexistent energy, but it's still energy nonetheless, and I'm spending massive quantities of it to hold the powers of your crystal at bay. Just think about it, Wither. Amophis is recyclable. We're just creating a loop, accomplishing nothing."

Wither balked at the implications of what Malefor had just told him, but he still collected himself to ask, "How do you know so much about the Void?"

"Hmm, that's for me to know. It's really too bad, you know? What happened twenty years ago. I spent all the Amophis I could muster keeping the Destroyer going even after your parents destroyed the black crystals giving it the Amophis needed to power it. Oh, the Void truly is a lovely work of art. The crystals that I created spread my influence across the land. The Sword powered my grublin army and the golems of the deep, and the Shield prevented any dragons from using their magic against creatures with large enough crystal deposits. A flawless system."

"Why are you telling me all of this so willingly?" asked Wither in suspicion. "That has to be the worst strategy in the world."

Malefor blinked at Wither and said, "Because, in all honesty, it doesn't matter if you know how I do it or not. The knowledge does nothing but perhaps sate your curiosity. There's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Then maybe you can explain why you can touch me when I don't exist."

"Oh, that? When I exist and you don't, it's impossible to hit you, but if I hit something nonexistent with nonexistent energy, it's a double negative. It's like multiplying two negative numbers together. You always get a positive. Things that don't exist lie on the same plane, so they exist to each other."

This was it. This was what Yarrow had wanted to know, but it was too late now, and it didn't matter anyway. From what Malefor had told him, he had stolen half of the power that rightfully belonged to him. He couldn't use it anyway, but one thought struck him that hadn't occurred to Malefor. "There may be an endless supply of Amophis, but you said yourself that you spent all you could muster twenty years ago for one large task. That means you can't control more than a certain amount of it at once. I am the true Void King! The powers belong to me! And though you've claimed half of them, they know I am their rightful master! Can you keep up with me, you thieving murderer!"

Wither turned it up and gave it everything he had. The crystal hovering at the end of his tail hummed and the air around it shuddered. The pieces of his tail spade swirled faster and faster until they appeared as though they were three solid rings floating around the black gem. Wither put his all into his attack now, screaming, "This is for mother, for father, for Yarrow, for everyone you've killed, and everyone they knew and loved!" Now Malefor grunted again as the reserve of energy he held around him began to ebb away.

Suddenly, cheetahs started running out of Yarrow's house and into the garden. They came from all entrances and quickly surrounded the two dragons caught in an epic struggle. They cheered Wither on and his friends soon joined in. Things were starting to look grim for Malefor, but he wasn't going down that easy. He smirked at Wither and asked, "So how long do you plan on remaining in Hypoactive Mode? You've been that way for an awfully long time. Your power may be limitless, but you can only control so much at once too, you know? And seeing as you're still a youngling, I'd say you couldn't have more than a few seconds left in you. While you may control the Shield a bit better than I the Sword when you're in this form, I have more experience. I can do it longer."

He was right. Wither cursed himself as he already began to feel weakened by his immense display of power. He tried to empty his mind, but every time he did so, all he could see was Yarrow's body lying on the ground. His hold on the power faltered and his tail spade slowed down. The pieces snapped back into place and covered the crystal. The rippling streams flowing around his body died out and his eyes returned to normal. Malefor immediately took the opportunity to use what energy Wither hadn't taken away to form a rift. He was still able to drag the four boys into the rift despite his weakened state, using the last remnants of his magic. Once they were through, the rift closed, leaving everyone behind.

Hunter and Wylee pushed their way through the crowd and ran to Wither. When they saw the tears in his eyes, Hunter kneeled down and placed a hand on the young dragon's shoulder. "Don't worry yourself too much. You did your best and that's all that matters. No one will blame you for letting him get away."

Wylee looked around and brought his hand to his mouth. His eyes had followed the giant charred heap of smoldering compost that had once been the Ranvacoya. When his gaze reached the base where the fallen creature, his eyes widened in shock as he realized what he was looking at. He whirled around and saw Wither breaking down as his father tried in vain to comfort him. "Dad, I don't think that's why he's upset."

Hunter looked up at Wylee as the young cheetah pointed to the body of the ancient dragon lying at the base of the Ranavcoya. He left Wither's side and rushed to the elder. Stepping up to the still body, he leaned down and placed a hand on the dragon's wrist. Waiting for a moment, he then tried the neck. After a few second, he put an ear to Yarrow's chest. When he looked up, he just shook his head and Wither's sobs became even more uncontrollable. He rushed over to Yarrow's lifeless body and nearly knocked Hunter aside as he jumped up on Yarrow's chest and pounded on him, shouting for him to wake up. Everyone stood in silence, not knowing what to do. The only sounds that could be heard were the crackling fires of the still burning Ranvacoya and Wither's cries of anguish.

Hunter almost stepped forward to pull Wither away, but Renna stepped forward to stop him and shook her head. She pressed onward, getting closer to Wither and gesturing at Hunter to back up. As she inched her way closer, tears continued to stream down Wither's face. He wasn't even trying to hide his overwhelming pain at the loss of his best and oldest friend. Just seeing Wither cry like that brought glistening droplets to Renna's eyes, too, and after a moment of watching, the first one made a slow path down her face as well.

The weeping dragon buried his head in Yarrow's chest, burrowing under one of his arms and trying to get close to the fallen ancient. "No! No, it isn't fair! I didn't even get to say goodbye! Yarrow!" More sobs echoed through the courtyard before he inhaled deeply and was forced to continue his mourning. After several minutes, he felt a paw on his shoulder. Fearing that those around him were trying to pull him away from Yarrow, he shouted, "NO!" Renna fell to the ground, left with barely enough energy to crawl away from her grieving friend.

Dragging her body to the group, she said, "Maybe we should give him a moment. I wouldn't suggest touching him right now."

Leaning down to look her over, Roxy asked, "Did he hurt you?"

Renna decided to lie down and roll over on her side to look at Wither. "He drained me, but I don't blame him. I'm not so sure he's thinking straight right now."

Everyone glanced up at the still bawling dragon then back down to Renna. Psy stepped away from the group, looking far less casual than usual, and helped Renna to her feet. He looked over at Wither again and had to actually look away, trying to suppress the sorrow that welled up inside him. However, the same uncontrollable fury that caused him to damage Xath and knock out Obsidius in the competition rose to the surface and burst out of him in a rage. "Rraaaagh!" He slammed a paw on the ground, a misty wave of shadows pushing outward from the impact. Wisps of shadows began to dance about his form and lash the air several inches away from his flesh as he began to beat the ground and tear deep gouges out of the soil beneath his feet. His roars of rage were so intense, that they even drowned out the dreadful wails of his distraught friend.

The cheetahs turned their attention to the source of the noise and began to back away from the boy, seeing that the magic in his body was being influenced by his emotions and becoming highly volatile. Though the details surrounding the workings of magic were lost on the cheetah tribes, they all knew that standing next to a dragon that was working up a good fury wasn't a good idea. Even Psy's friends, who knew of his rare, yet almost legendary bursts of fury, began to retreat. The only ones that didn't seem frightened of his tantrum were Wither, who was in no condition to notice anything, and Sora, who quietly padded up to Psy.

As he roared and raged, trying to destroy everything around him, Sora reached out and placed a paw between his shoulder blades, pressing lightly at the base of his neck. He turned around and yelled, "No! He can't just get away with this! I'll kill that purple dragon if it's the last thing I do! Look at what he did to Yarrow!" He pointed at the limp figure several yards away where Wither was beginning to convulse silently, his face nearly impossible to bear. Gesturing harder, Psy screamed, "Look at what he did to Wither! The poor guy couldn't do it on his own, but the next time Malefor shows his face in Warfang I'll help him! We can do it together! We can all fight him together and win! We should have done something! Why didn't we help! We just stood behind him and gawked like a bunch of useless idiots!"

In a voice smooth as silk, Sora replied, "There was nothing we could do, Psy. It was Wither's fight, and you know it. Our powers wouldn't have broken through Malefor's shield."

"No! No, I refuse to believe that! You saw how exhausted he looked when he left! We would have made a difference!"

Closing her eyes, Sora pulled Psy in and placed his head under her chin. Then she began to hum. It was one of the lullabies that dragons sang to their younglings to get them to go to sleep. As she hummed the soft tune to Psy and pushed harder on his pressure point, his huffing and puffing started to slow down and the shadows began to sink back down beneath his scales. After a few seconds, he released the tension in his muscles and Sora grabbed him with her other paw, to prevent his limp body from hitting the ground. The dragoness let go of his pressure point and began to rub his forehead with the backs of her claws as she finished up the lullaby. Once Psy was calm, she helped him up and asked, "Better?"

Letting out a sigh and regaining his usual cool, Psy replied, "Yeah. Thanks. Too bad that probably won't work on him." He gestured halfheartedly at Wither again and dragged his tail through the dirt as he made his way back to his friends.

"Feeling better?" asked Elleca. "You kind of lost it for a minute there."

Taking another deep breath to compose himself, Psy nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm just lucky Sora's here. She always seems to know how to calm me down."

"Well, that was genuinely scary, and I don't say that often. That wasn't like you at all, Psy. You're usually so . . ."

"Boring?"

"No. Just . . . reserved."

Kicking a half buried stone out of the ground, Psy replied, "Yeah well, I've always had this kind of problem, see? My parents say I have anger issues. I try to control it, but this . . . this is just too much to bear. I mean look at Wither. He is absolutely inconsolable right now. I don't know how close he was to Yarrow, but I've heard that they were pretty close. From the looks of things . . . I don't know if he's ever going to get over this."

"What's going on here!" shouted someone as they pushed through the crowd. Several elders were making their way toward the center of the commotion. When they saw the sight before them, they all lowered their heads. More tears were shed for the Grand High Elder, but these were silent. Spyro and Cynder made their way forward and stepped up to Wither. Tugging Wither in for a hug, Spyro rubbed his back and said, "I know, I know." The Purple Dragon looked up at Cynder as Wither continued to lose himself to grief in his arms. The look on Spyro's face was one that could only be described as lost. Lightly shaking his head, he mouthed, 'What are we going to do?'

She stared back at him and took a shaky breath before looking toward the rest of the elders and gesturing at Yarrow's body. They stepped forward and began to pick him up in an attempt to carry him away. Upon hearing the noises they were making, Wither looked up and leaped out of his father's arms, shouting, "No! No, you can't take him away! Don't! I won't let you take him!" The already tired and bruised elders began to stagger away from Yarrow's body, one by one, dropping it and trying not to fall down.

Spyro and Cynder rushed toward their son to pull him away from the body, but they too began to sway on the spot as he let out an unintelligible yell at them. Backing away from him and allowing him to continue to hold on to Yarrow, Spyro whispered to Cynder. "I feel terrible about this, but we have to move the body. Normally, it would be all too easy to throw energy into his drain long enough to pull him away, but I'm all tapped out. What do you think?"

Shaking her head and rubbing her eyes, Cynder raised her head and said, "I just don't know, Spyro. Keeping that acid from eating me has got me feeling like less than a dragon at the moment. He's completely beyond reason right now. As much as I hate to say it, we'll have to find a way to remove him from the body by force."

Stepping up to the two parents, Hunter placed a hand on Spyro's knee to gain his attention. "If you're not against it, I think my son has a solution."

"We just have to get Wither away from the body so we can put it somewhere safe. I think we'll be willing to try anything."

After a moment of quiet whispering, Spyro and Cynder looked into each other's eyes for several long seconds before looking down at Hunter and nodding. Hunter looked over at Wylee and nodded, giving him the signal to quietly step forward. As he made his way to Wither from behind, he reached into one of the pouches at his waist and pulled out and small rag and a vial of clear liquid. Wylee opened the vial and placed the rag on top of it before upending it for a few seconds. Once this was done, he screwed the lid back on the vial and placed it back in the pouch. By now, he was right behind Wither and was able to reach around and place the rag over his snout and muzzle. After about two seconds of struggling, Wither's world went dark and his body fell limp in Wylee's arms.

XXX

When Wither woke up, he was lying on the cushions in his parents' room. His head felt fuzzy, and he wasn't exactly sure how he had gotten there, being unable to remember anything too recent. Once he saw that he was lying between his parents on their bed, all the memories came rushing back. However, rather than jumping up and demanding to know where Yarrow was, he just laid his head on his paws and stared unblinkingly at the doorway to his parents' room. When they noticed that he was awake, Cynder leaned down and started licking the top of his head. "My poor baby. I'm so sorry. We just want you to know that we are so proud of you for standing up to Malefor like you did. Your friends told us what happened. We had no idea you were capable of such things."

Spyro gently placed a paw on his son's back and said, "Yarrow would be proud too, you know? Wither, understand that Yarrow was very old, much older than other dragons get to live. I just want you to know that he had a long and fulfilling life. I know how close you two were, and we're not expecting you to get over this right away. We understand that this is going to take some time to heal. The rest of the elders are preparing a ceremony for Yarrow. It's going to be held tomorrow in the plaza just outside the Council Chamber. You don't have to do anything, but we want you to go. Do you think you can do that?"

Silence was his only answer. Spyro asked Wither if he could hear him several times before looking up at Cynder. She stared down at Wither and looked back up to Spyro, saying, "I don't know about you, but I'm not leaving him alone."

Sighing, Spyro got up and said, "I don't blame you. Don't let him out of your sight. I don't trust him by himself either. I'm going to go help with the preparations. Are you sure you can handle everything without me?"

"I think I'll be fine. Go on. The others need your help."

"Alright, I'll be back later. I love you both." With that, he walked out the door and left Wither and Cynder alone.

Several times throughout the afternoon, Cynder tried to get Wither to interact with her, but each time she failed, unable to obtain any sort of response. Instead of getting up and trying to do anything, he just lay in bed and slept all day long, drifting in and out of consciousness like a sick youngling. At some point he couldn't quite remember, his father came back and started talking with his mother. He barely caught bits and pieces of their conversation through his daze, things like, 'no response,' 'hasn't moved a muscle,' 'right there all day.' What stood out the most was when he heard, "Everything's all ready." After hearing these words, he closed his eyes and drifted away again, letting sleep take him.

XXX

The next day Spyro and Cynder got up and got ready for the ceremony. They exchanged worried glances when Wither lay next to them and wouldn't eat. After trying to get him to ingest something, they gave up and told him they'd try again later or else they would be late. Cynder helped place Wither on Spyro's back since the young dragon refused to walk, and together they walked to the plaza.

All of the citizens of Warfang, including the cheetahs, attended the funeral. All day long, dragons stepped up to the podium that had been placed at the top of the stairs leading to the Council Chamber so that they could look out over the crowd and say a few words about Yarrow and all of the things he had done for them in life. It was amazing to hear of the countless deeds he had performed to better the lives of the citizens of Warfang. When Spyro and Cynder asked Wither if he wanted to say anything, he only sat in silence in his place in the front row of the crowded plaza. He stared at a large wagon between the front row of the crowd and the base of the Council Chamber stairs. Resting upon the wagon, was Yarrow's body, waiting to be carried away once the first half of the ceremony was over. After seeing that Wither was in no condition to speak, Spyro got up and walked past the body of their leader and up the steps to the podium. When he turned around, everyone was watching him except for Wither, who couldn't take his eyes off of Yarrow.

Spyro cleared his throat and began to speak, his voice cracking a bit at the start. "There's not much left to say about Yarrow that hasn't already been said. He was a wise, kind, and intelligent dragon. His generosity and love of all things was unending. He was a great leader to us all, and an excellent protector, too. He gave his life defending the city from the forces of darkness without a second thought. My son, Wither, was closer to Yarrow than any other can boast. They spent every night and many days together. Yarrow took a special interest in my boy, not just because of how unique he was, but because from the moment Wither was born, and he looked past his mother and I to peer into Yarrow's ancient eyes with his brand new ones, old Yarrow felt something. He told me once that he didn't have any children, but when he looked at Wither, he saw the son he had always wanted. I'm up here to say that after hearing all the things that Yarrow has done for us and all that he sacrificed to help others, it feels good to know that my family was able to help him, to give something back. Wither, you may not realize it, but you brought Yarrow more joy than anything else in the world. Your friendship with him meant as much to him as it did to you. Take solace in the fact that you made a lonely old dragon happy."

Spyro turned back to the main audience and addressed them again. "Yarrow's death has hit all of us very hard. It will take some time to recover, but we must not let his death be in vain. We have a long way to go, and the road ahead will be harder without Yarrow to guide us, but do not lose faith. Cynder and I have defeated Malefor before, and though he has new followers to aid him this time, a new generation of heroes is currently being trained, paw picked by the prophetic powers of the Chronicler himself, and my son, Wither, will lead them into the fray! Together we will avenge Yarrow's death, and the deaths of all of Malefor's victims!"

The somber mood the pervaded the early morning air was briefly lifted as all of Warfang roared at Spyro's encouragement. However, the effect did not last long. Spyro looked back down at Yarrow's lifeless body from atop the stairs and said, "Rest in peace, Yarrow. May you live forever with the ancestors in the other world."

Two dragons picked out by the elders were helped into harnesses attached to Yarrow's cart and then set off through the streets of Warfang. The crowd got up and began to follow the wagon as it made its way down one of the main streets away from the city center. Finally, Wither was able to get up and walk on his own. He followed his parents, taking a place right behind the cart with the rest of the elders. Even Volteer hobbled along behind the cart. His shortened limb was bandaged at the end and held several inches off the ground, but despite the evident pain and difficulty, he had insisted on being a part of the escort. The only guardians missing from their ranks were Spire, who was currently being held in the Warfang prison, and Valorie, who had taken a turn for the worse after the attack and was currently resting in Yarrow's house, where the other elders had taken her in hopes that Yarrow could heal her again. Now that he was gone, everyone feared that she was soon to follow.

The procession behind the cart was a long one. Nearly the entire city came to witness the final portion of the ceremony. Once they were through the city streets and out the gates, they made their way up a hill. Spyro and Cynder watched Wither, who took step after step, his eyes glazed over and staring forward at Yarrow. They could tell that he wasn't all there and decided to leave him be, happy that he was at least walking now.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, they reached the top of the hill. The sun dared to shine down happily on the dragons below and the birds all around had the audacity to fly around and sing their merry songs as they chased one another through the air. A light breeze rolled across the gathering, making the lush grass ripple beneath their feet. How ironic, thought Wither. A life dragon had died, and life went on as though nothing had happened.

Spyro leaned down and said, "You know, Wither, and old friend once told me that when a dragon dies, he does not truly leave this world. His spirit lives on, binding itself with nature, offering hope for the future."

Wither still found it impossible to speak or respond in any other way, but if he could, he would have told his dad that Yarrow had already been bonded with nature. He had used his powers to connect with every form of life, be it plants, insects, or other dragons. He kept his garden alive and it, in turn, had kept him alive. Wither remembered watching during the times Yarrow connected with his garden. The plants always seemed to move and breathe with him, even talk with him. When he had spread his connection in preparation for the war, the plants had done everything he asked them to. He even went as far as to make himself one with the entire city and gathered the minds of the dragons and the plants of Warfang to create the Ranvacoya. You couldn't connect with nature any more than that. It pretty much looked like he was just dead now, but he still refused to accept that.

However, once Spyro lit the wagon ablaze and everyone watched as the body was quickly consumed by the hungry flames, it was impossible to deny any longer. Yarrow was dead, and he wasn't coming back. Ashes rose up into the air and were carried by the wind for over a mile. After watching the ashes drift away for a moment, Spyro stepped forward and began to speak. "I'm sorry I kept holding off our training, Yarrow. I know you wanted to teach me everything about your art, but I never was interested enough to get into the powers of life. I . . . I thought there would be more time. I thought you would be around to teach me later. I guess everyone thought you would live forever, but even you admitted that everything must die eventually. Cynder and I should have held off on reading those books in our library that you and the rest of the elders assigned us. Those are always going to be there. Even though I never gave you much opportunity to teach me, I can remember enough from what you did show me to do this."

Spyro placed a paw on the ground before him and began to draw his paw upward over and over again, pulling his claws in every time as though attempting to pull something out of the ground. A tiny stalk poked its way out of the dirt and slowly began to rise up above the grass. Stroking the air around the plant, but never actually touching it, Spyro continued to make it grow. Eventually, it formed several buds all the way up the stalk, which bloomed into beautiful tiger lilies. Once this flower was mature, Spyro then connected the roots of the creation to those of the tree next to it and gave the flower priority over the tree. "There. An everlasting tiger lily plant. Your favorite, if I'm not mistaken. It will always be here to mark your final resting place. Goodbye, Yarrow."

For a time, everyone watched as the fire took Yarrow's body away. However, one by one, everyone began to walk away, the crowd dwindling down as the fire raged on. Eventually, the only ones left were Spyro and his family, who stayed so that Wither could be there when the last ember's glow faded away.

XXX

The next day, everyone in the city picked up where they had left off just before the attack. The citizens of Warfang continued to prepare the defenses around the city, the cheetahs moved their training into the plaza, and Spyro and Cynder continued to train their students in the arena. Though they tried to get Wither to join in, he just sat in the stands and stared off into space. His parents had to carry him to the arena. Once they got there, they set him down where he lay now and told him that he could join in at any time.

However, he kept to himself and watched as his classmates improved without him. Motivated by the recent tragedy, all of his friends pushed themselves to learn new tricks. Vera finally perfected her Scorpion Strike, something she had been working on for a few days, while her sister mastered the Phantom Fright ability. Sora was finally able to summon a Sylph, once of the invisible wind spirits that could slam into foes and blow them away. Unfortunately, controlling the powerful elemental was a drain on her and the spirit quickly flew away once her influence keeping it in the arena was lifted. Cynder congratulated Sora for the impressive accomplishment before returning her attention to Roxy, who was still working on maintaining his Earth Flail.

Several yards away, Spyro taught Elleca how to solidify her electricity into orbs that she could launch and detonate from a distance, while Psy used his powers to create a shadow clone, which, for all intents and purposes, looked exactly like him. Spyro gave him a smile and said, "That's it Psy! That's perfect! Hold it as long as you can. Try to walk it around. You're all doing great."

Though Renna was supposed to be learning with Spyro, she moved to the other side of the arena to tend to her own project. Spyro figured it was just as well since neither he nor Cynder had ever tapped into their powers over light and thus, had little to teach her. Near the end of the day, the lesson was disrupted when a massive explosion emanating from Renna engulfed half the arena. It blackened everything within the blast radius and sent out powerful shock waves and heat waves that floored everyone and singed their scales a bit. Being in the stands, Wither was further away from the explosion than everyone else and was not as affected by it, but he wasn't completely unfazed by it. Slowly, he turned his head and focused his gaze long enough to see that she was okay. He didn't mean to make eye contact, but when he looked to see if she was okay, she was staring right at him. The concern in his eyes slowly faded, as did his focus on her as he turned his head and stared off into space again.

Everyone else rushed to see if she was okay. After making sure that there were no negative effects on her health, Cynder asked, "What was that?"

Renna grinned sheepishly and wavered back and forth before falling down in exhaustion. She rolled over on her back and said, "That was a Nova."

"A Nova!" exclaimed Spyro and Cynder in unison.

"That's the strongest thing a light dragon can summon next to a Supernova!" admonished Cynder.

Spyro joined in and said, "Yeah, you have to be careful! You didn't know if that could have killed everyone!"

"I did too," pouted Renna. "I was very careful. I went all the way over here. Yesterday, when I went home, I stopped by the library and checked the Book of Light to make sure how big a Nova is. It said that since I'm a youngling, it probably wouldn't be much bigger than a hundred feet in every direction. That's easily a safe distance from where I was in relation to you."

Spyro shook his head and replied, "At any rate, it's good to see that you're tapping into the highly destructive aspects of your element, seeing as you're most likely going to need them in the future. However, I will add that while a Nova is extremely effective for ending a battle, they are always meant as a last resort for a light dragon, since setting one off will drain you of all your energy at once as you can clearly see."

"I'll remember that."

"Good. See that you do. Alright everyone, I think we'll stop there for the day. You've all shown fantastic improvement. Cynder and I are both proud of you."

"Thank you, Master Spyro," said everyone together.

"Heh, oh please. I'm only thirty-five. Just call me Spyro."

"Spyro?" asked Elleca.

"Yes? What is it Elleca?"

"Is Wither going to be alright? He hasn't moved or said anything since . . ."

Letting out a sigh and looking toward the stands, Spyro replied, "I just don't know, Elleca. Wither and Yarrow shared a bond that was stronger than almost anything I have ever seen. It's no surprise that he's not taking Yarrow's death very well. Truth be told, Cynder and I fear for his health. He hasn't eaten since the incident. Already, he's beginning to show signs of atrophy. There isn't much to his body to keep him healthy under such conditions for long. Unless he somehow breaks out of his depression in the next few hours, I'll have to call for some moles to come and use some of their strange devices to help him."

Elleca's eyes widened when she heard Spyro mention the moles and their devices. The world swirled around her and she was just a hatchling again. Several moles were huddled around her, using foreign objects of an unknown nature to inspect her. She was crying because she was frightened by the unfamiliar situation. Then the accident happened. She squirmed around in their grasp, trying to get away from them so she could run to her parents who watched from several feet away. The strands at the end of her tail whipped around and started to spark. Moles started shouting at one another to hold her still and her parents tried to calm her down, but she wasn't listening. The end of one of the strands brushed against one of the moles holding her down and a bright flash lit up the room.

Elleca looked at Wither and shuddered. "No, he shouldn't have to deal with that. No one should have to deal with such a horrifying experience."

She started off toward the stands, leaving everyone to stare after her. "Oh, that's right," said Cynder as she looked up thoughtfully. "Elleca was that youngling who had to be inspected by the moles because of her unique tail spade."

"Really?" asked Tera.

"What happened?" continued Vera.

"She got scared when they tried to examine her and accidently almost killed one of them," replied Roxy. Everyone looked at him in surprise before he added, "Uh, her tail spade . . . it's really unusual. It's actually more of a whip than a tail spade, but it can electrocute anyone she touches with it if she activates it. She doesn't really have much control over it, so she usually just keeps it turned off."

"Huh," commented Psy. "I always thought she had an odd tail piece there, but I didn't know there was an interesting story behind it."

Roxy nodded and said, "Oh yes. The mole examining her was very lucky. I think the only thing that saved him was the fact that the tip of just one of the strands barely grazed him, but that didn't stop him from needing special care down in Mjölnir."

"Wow. So wait, what's she doing?" asked Spyro.

Roxy watched as Elleca ascended the steps and said, "Hmm, if I had to guess, I'd say she's going to go cheer him up before he needs medical attention from the moles. She's actually quite good at that when she's not being a bi—uhhhh jerk."

The twins suppressed some giggles while Spyro and Cynder eyed Roxy for a moment before turning to watch Elleca. She sat down next to Wither and began to talk to him. They were a little too far away, so they couldn't exactly tell what was being said between the two of them.

Elleca sat down with Wither and said, "Alright hon, talk to me. You've been sitting up here all day long, your parents just told us that you haven't been eating, and you haven't said a word in two days. Everyone's starting to worry about you."

Though Wither was surprised by how gentle and soothing Elleca was being for once, it wasn't enough to get him to acknowledge her presence. He watched the far side of the arena where his parents and his friends tried not to look at him or Elleca. Instead, they all stood around and talked to one another, the murmur of their speech just audible enough to make out, but unintelligible from such a distance.

Seeing that he wasn't going to give in that easily, Elleca gave a sigh and said, "I get it. I really do. You lost someone very close to you, and that's hard. It's sad, Wither. Everyone misses Yarrow, you most of all, no doubt. But you can't let that be the end of it. Yarrow's with the ancestors now, watching you as we speak. You want to know what I think, Wither? I think he's weeping. Not for himself, but for you. Do you know what you're doing to yourself? Take a look at yourself. You're wasting away. You've always been a tiny guy, so there's not much of you to lose to begin with. Yarrow wouldn't want this for you. He loved you so much, that he would hate to see that he was the reason why you couldn't go on. You still have lots of friends and family that care about you, Wither. Your mom and dad love you. They don't want to lose you. They're worried about you, you know that? Then there're the rest of us. What can I say, Wither? We love you, too. We don't want to see anything happen to you either."

Elleca stood up and stepped closer to Wither, saying, "If you ask me, you can pick one of two options from here. You can let the pain of Yarrow's death crush you and choose to never recover from it, or you can pick yourself up, get in the arena with the rest of us, and learn what you need to avenge him. This isn't over, not by a long shot. You want to know what I would do? I would want to become all that I can be. I would want to rise above my sorrow and fight. I would want to hunt down those responsible for Yarrow's death and let my unyielding vengeance rain down upon them like it's the end of the world. I'm not asking you to stop mourning for Yarrow. I'm just saying he gave you an even bigger reason to fight."

Wither turned to her, revealing more tears running down his face. Something unspoken passed between them and the distance between them closed as she brought him in for a tight hug. She pat him on the back as he shuddered against her shoulder, trying to be as quiet as possible. She slowly swayed on the spot to rock him a bit and said, "You're going to be just fine. Welcome back, Wither."

Behind her, she could hear him sniffling and whispering to her, unable to use his vocal cords, "Thank you, Elleca."

"Hey, what are friends for, right? So we can expect to have you join us tomorrow?"

Nodding, Wither pulled away from Elleca and wiped his face with a paw before looking up into the sky and speaking, his voice cracking. "Yeah, I'll be there."

"Great. Now go home and eat something. You look awful," said Elleca with a grin.

Wither laughed lightly as she started to walk back down the stairs and said, "Hey, Elleca."

She turned around and asked him, "Yeah?"

"Thank you. Really."

"You're welcome, Wither."

Spyro looked at Cynder and asked his students, "What's going on now?"

Roxy looked at Wither and Elleca and said, "Let's see, she's talking to him, and he's crying. Wait. Now he's getting up. He's looking at her. Hey."

"What?" asked Spyro as he looked at Roxy. "And be more discreet. You're looking right at them."

Renna looked at them out of the corner of her eye and saw what Roxy was talking about. "He hugged her."

"Yeah," said Roxy. "Now they're talking again. Now she's walking away. Wait. They're talking again, uhhhh, oh! They're coming over!" he hissed.

Everyone looked away and started talking about how their training was going until Elleca and Wither joined them again. Cynder looked down and said, "You're looking better."

Wither gave a quick nod and said, "I'm feeling better."

"Glad to hear it," said Spyro. "Uh, are you okay? You look like you're in pain."

"I just realized that I'm starving."

"Good, you need some food. We'll be happy to feed you as soon as we get home."

"Before we go," interrupted Wither as his parents made to pick him up, stopping them. "I'd just like to say something." All of his friends looked at him and silently waited to hear what he had to say. He swung his gaze from one end of the crowd to the other then address them all. "The next time Malefor shows his face in Warfang, I would very much appreciate it if we all worked together to destroy him. I don't want him dead, I want him gone. Let there be nothing left to burn, nothing left to bury, nothing left to spit on or dance around in celebration when the fight is over. I'm counting on all of you to make that a reality. Are you with me?"

Though the image that Wither's words brought to everyone's mind was rather dark, they all nodded. Psy actually stepped forward and placed a paw over his heart, staring straight into Wither's eyes as he said, "Always."

Elleca nodded with a smile and saluted, saying, "To the end of Avalar, I'll go with you."

"Into certain doom, I'll follow you," added Roxy.

"Through every trial, we'll be with you," said Tera and Vera.

"Around the world, I'll fly for you," continued Sora.

"In the world of the ancestors, I'll forever rest for you," finished Renna.

Spyro and Cynder looked at each other, sharing looks of surprise as they realized for the first time just how much Wither's friends respected him. They looked back down as Wither began to speak again. "I know you will. I couldn't ask for more. Now go home and rest. I'm sorry I didn't join you today, but I promise tomorrow will be different."

Everyone said their goodbyes and left to go home. Wither crawled on his dad's back and said, "I'd walk home, but I don't feel so good."

"You're weak. Don't worry, it'll wear off soon enough. Come on, let's go home." Together, the Spyro family left the arena and set out for their tower, relieved that they had their son back.


	18. Chapter 17 Withholding

Chapter 17- Withholding

Wither awoke next to his parents the next day still feeling a little numb inside, but better since his talk with Elleca. Wither's parents had thought it prudent for him to remain in their room, since there were now four generals serving under Malefor. Judging by the state they were in when they left, they wouldn't be up for a fight for a while, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Now that three days had passed since their latest attack, everyone had had some time to heal. Wither's movements woke his mother and father, who looked down at him to make sure he was okay. Then they both jerked upward and looked out the window.

"Whoa, we overslept!" exclaimed Cynder in surprise.

"Come on, we need to eat and go," said Spyro as he got up and jogged out the door and up the stairs with Cynder.

Wither was already waiting for them at the edge of the roof by the time they arrived. Cynder looked over at him while Spyro made to thaw their breakfast that was frozen in the corner of the roof for storage. "Oh, you shifted up here? You _are_ feeling better."

Wither watched the horizon as tiny dots flew to and fro, working on the defenses around the city. "Mmhmm. Tell me, what are your plans for us for today?"

"Your father and I actually need to talk to you about something," said Cynder with a bit of worry lacing her voice.

"Oh?" asked Wither as he walked over to the center of the roof to join his mom and dad for breakfast.

Spyro spoke up and said, "I know it's a little unorthodox, but do you think you could play healer today?"

Now a puzzled look crossed Wither's face as he asked, "What do you mean?"

"There is much to tell, but most of it will have to come later when your friends are present. For now, all you need to know is that Xath poisoned several dragons using his new powers. Volteer lost a paw to him, he damaged your mother's wing, and he also did something to Valorie."

Wither's eyes widened at this revelation. He looked at his mother again and for the first time, actually noticed the large section of membrane missing from her right wing. "Whoa! Does it hurt?" he asked, suddenly becoming sympathetic and softening up a bit.

Cynder flared her wing out halfway and said, "Not as much as it did when it was still corrupted by the pestilence that was eating away at me. Your father cut off the infected part before it could spread further and do any more damage, but it still makes flight all but impossible until it grows back. The same thing happened to Volteer's paw. It's too bad, really. That can't grow back. Lucky for him, Spyro was able to cut his paw off before the infection took anymore of his leg."

"Ugh, that was the worst thing I've ever had to do," said Spyro in disgust.

Cynder rubbed his back and said, "It was for the best, Spyro. You know full well that you saved his life by doing that."

Spyro picked up a piece of meat and said, "Yeah, I'm just glad he wasn't awake for it. That's the only thing that could have made it worse."

Cynder turned to Wither as Spyro began to eat and said, "Anyway, Valorie has been infected by this pestilence as well, and seeing as her whole body has been corrupted, we can't cut her away from herself, and there's no one in Warfang capable of healing her either. Last night, after some consideration as to what to do, we came up with the idea that you can simply make her infection cease to exist. This would effectively cure Valorie and save her life. She is currently resting at Yarrow's house under the care of Cyril, but her health is rapidly deteriorating, and if she isn't cured soon, she will surely die."

Spyro nodded at Cynder and said, "It was really all her idea. She thought of it after you fell asleep. It's a good thing, too. We were afraid there was nothing we could do for her, but this should work. Once again, Cynder, you're a genius."

"I have my moments," said Cynder with a smile.

After finishing his meal, Wither stood and stretched before asking, "When do we leave?"

Spyro looked down and said, "As soon as your mother is finished eating. We need to move fast if we're going to take care of Valorie and get to training on time. Do you think you can shift all of us to Valorie and the arena?"

Wither cocked his head in thought and said, "Yeah, but I'll need a couple minutes to rest afterward if I'm going to do that. I'm still a little tired."

"Fair enough," said Cynder after finishing her last bite. "Come on. Let's go."

Wither waved a paw in front of him and walked forward, disappearing as he reached his shifting point. Spyro and Cynder looked at one another in surprise before edging toward the point where Wither had disappeared. They poked their heads through the invisible gate, emerging just outside Yarrow's house. After stepping through, Wither closed the gate behind them and said, "Lead the way."

Spyro looked at Wither and asked, "Do you not even realize what you just did?"

Wither frowned at his dad and asked, "What?"

"You shifted us without needing us to maintain contact. We didn't even have to make a jump. We just walked through the shifting point. You're getting better."

"Huh, I guess I am. I don't feel like I'm any better, but I'm not tired like I thought I would be either. Anyway, let's go save Valorie."

Spyro and Cynder led him through the curved path of Yarrow's ring shaped house. After a few minutes, they stopped walking down the hallway and ventured through one of the doorways off to the side. They entered a room that already contained three dragons. One was Cyril, who was breathing low doses of icy breath onto Valorie's forehead to keep her fever down. She was lying on a bed of cushions and shivering uncontrollably. The other one present was Hexus, who was lying next to Valorie and inspecting her. After a moment, he stood and said, "It's not like any other kind of poison I've ever encountered. It's acting like a disease, spreading and infecting more as it goes. Also, whatever it is, I can't control it."

"No need, Hexus," said Cynder, making Hexus and Cyril turn to the approaching visitors. "I believe we have a solution to the problem."

Spyro looked down at Wither and said, "Go ahead."

Just then, a fit of coughing wracked the majestic beast that lay dying before them. Hexus backed up and shielded his face, wrinkling his nose as he wiped a few drops of spittle off his cheek. When Valorie calmed down, Wither advanced and focused his mind on any poison that might be in her body. When he encountered something that felt reminiscent of Amophis, he began to drain it away. Valorie's wheezing instantly cleared up and her fever broke. Once Wither was finished sucking up the last of the poison, her eyes popped open. A trail of blood that had been oozing out of her nose and puddling on the floor stopped flowing, and she tried to stand on shaky legs before falling back down. "Whoa! Oh no you don't," said Cyril. "You may be cured now, but you're still weak. You won't be going anywhere for a while."

Valorie lifted her head and groaned as she sat up halfway. "Thank you, Wither."

"No problem, Master Valorie."

"You saved my life. Yarrow would be proud. Cyril told me what happened. I'm sorry."

Wither gave her a bitter sweet smile and said, "Thank you, and you're welcome."

Cyril bustled everyone out of the room and said, "Alright, you've done your part. Leave the rest to me."

The door closed behind them and Hexus walked away, saying, "Alright, I had better help with the preparations. I'll see you all later."

Once he was gone, Wither asked, "Alright, what now?"

Spyro answered him in a chipper tone as he waved a paw forward. "Now it's off to the arena. You seem so determined, maybe today you can make up for not doing anything yesterday, but first we all need to talk about some important things. We have some news to share with you as I'm sure you have some to share with us. Class is about to begin. Let's go."

Wither took them through a shift gate, and they all arrived at the arena. Due to the delay, everyone was already sitting around, waiting for them. Wylee and Hunter had also chosen to come today at Spyro and Cynder's request. When the family appeared in the arena, Cynder waved a paw toward them and said, "Everyone gather around. Let's have a chat, shall we?"

Once everyone was settled in a circle, Spyro began. "Alright, Wither. Hunter and Wylee have briefly told us about your confrontation with Malefor. First off, I would like to congratulate you for holding your own against him. Your mother and I thought that beyond you." Wither couldn't help but notice that his parents looked at him funny as his father said this. "Anyway, yesterday your friends also briefly told us a summary of what happened between you two. Tell us about this Amophis."

Once Wither was finished with his description, everyone sat for a moment, trying to digest the information. Wylee shook his head and said, "I must say, merely trying to understand the Void is enough mental stimulation for a day."

"And that's coming from the genius," replied Roxy.

"It's pretty simple once you think about it. Getting the idea in your head is the hard part," added Elleca.

Spyro nodded his head and said, "One thing's for sure. This certainly answers a lot of questions."

"Definitely," added Cynder in agreement. "So you need to be careful around Malefor and his followers. They can still hurt you and their powers negate your own. That makes you completely vulnerable to them, Wither."

Spyro nodded again and said, "It seems to me that the only reason you were able to hold them off is because of what you did. Your friends said that Malefor told you that you went . . . Hypoactive? This is a very interesting phenomenon. From what we have already heard based on your friends descriptions, it sounds like you did on your own what Malefor did to you the first day Arragor came back to Warfang. This Hypoactive ability of yours seems to endow you with immeasurable strength, far beyond anything even your mother and I can muster. Can you shed any light on this, Wither?"

Wither thought back to the moment he had lost it. Everything surrounding that event was hazy, and he could barely remember a thing. Shaking his head, Wither said, "No. I can't remember much of anything about that to be honest. All I know is that I wanted to destroy Malefor, no matter the cost."

Spyro watched him for a moment before shrugging. "Hmm, anyway, this also explains why I cannot control your element. You've already got a monopoly on the part of it that I was trying to use. However, the reason why I can't control the nothing is odd. It's almost as if the Void is stopping me from doing it on purpose. When I tried, it flooded my mind with images from my past that broke my concentration. Okay, I think it's time we shared what we learned with you now."

"What is it?" asked Wither curiously, wondering what they could have possibly learned.

Spyro pointed at Hunter and Wylee and said, "I know you two weren't here for it, but do the rest of you remember when Arragor came back to Warfang the first time he attacked?" The younglings nodded in affirmation before he continued. "Do you remember what he said right before he left?"

They sat around and thought about it for a moment, but Sora already felt that she knew what Spyro was referring to. When no one else could think of it, she replied, "He said, 'I am General War, the First Disciple.'"

"Exactly. Don't you think it's a bit odd that he referred to himself as War?"

"What are you getting at?" asked Elleca.

"We've learned that Obsidius now calls himself General Famine and Xath goes by General Pestilence."

"No!" shouted the twins in unison.

"Are you serious?" asked Vera.

"That can't be!" exclaimed Tera.

"Am I the only one who doesn't know what's going on?" asked Roxy in confusion.

Everyone now turned toward the twins since they seemed to get what no one else had. Spyro gestured at them and said, "Why don't you girls tell them the story since you seem to know it?"

Tera started off by saying, "Okay, so there's this amazing dragon tale about the end of the world."

Vera continued for her and said, "It speaks of a group called the Fearsome Four who have the power to bring about the apocalypse."

Nudging her sister out of the way, Tera said, "Together they use their powers to torture everyone in the world and bring devastation upon the land."

Pulling her sister back in her excitement, Vera began the abridged version of the tale. "The first member of the Fearsome Four is War. His powers of destruction are told to be unparalleled. He takes delight in senseless oblivion by incinerating forests, leveling major cities, flattening mountains, vaporizing the oceans, and finally setting the sky on fire in one fell move that the fable refers to as Cataclysm, the first stage of the apocalypse."

Now Tera pushed her sister aside and took her turn at the story. "The second member of the group is Famine. He is portrayed as an insatiable monstrosity that is the very incarnation of gluttony and avarice. This being goes around the world and consumes the life force of the land, killing everything in his path and leaving nothing for the starving citizens of the world during the time of the second stage of the apocalypse, Blight."

Vera knocked Tera aside as the twins' emotions began to rebound between them, sending them into a mild hysteria. "The third member is Pestilence. He spreads disease across the land, infecting and corrupting everything he touches, and eliminating almost everything Famine overlooks. After starvation sets in, he causes thirst by polluting the water and suffocation by poisoning the air in the third stage, Pandemic."

Tera crawled over her sister and nearly shouted the ending at everyone, much to their surprise. "And finally, after everyone has been put through hell and been utterly defeated by these disasters, the fourth member comes and casts a veil across the sky, shrouding the land in an unholy and unnatural darkness. Beneath this veil, he stalks what few remain of the dwindling population and brings to them a blessing to relieve them of their suffering. Once he descends upon them, an icy chill fills the air, signaling that he cometh to take away all they have left to their name. With their last breaths his, broken and hopeless victims whisper a defeated thank you as Death completes the fourth and final stage of the end of the world, Armageddon."

Both twins clasped each other in a death grip and started hyperventilating, which prompted Cynder to pull them apart and try to calm them down. Everyone was staring at them in shocked silence after hearing the explanation that they had just given. After a moment in which no one said anything except Cynder who told Tera and Vera to close their eyes and count to ten, Psy spoke up. "That's awesome. I always wanted to die a horrible, painful death along with everyone I know and love."

Roxy asked in a shaky voice, "If this story is true then does that mean we're all really going to die?"

"Not likely," replied Cynder in a reassuring voice. "While Malefor's new generals seem to demonstrate some of the powers that the Fearsome Four of legend are told to wield, they're probably only naming themselves after the fabled bringers of destruction both to instill fear in their enemies and to give themselves a smug sense of self-satisfaction. The fact remains that the Legend of the Fearsome Four is only an old dragon tale, and until these cataclysmic events actually start to unfold, we should treat it as such."

"Not to mention the fact that, though powerful they may be, those boys are nowhere near strong enough to bring about the events in that story," added Spyro.

Everyone visibly relaxed after hearing this information, but then Elleca asked, "If it's just a story then why did you feel the need to tell us about it?"

Spyro grimaced at her perceptiveness and said, "Well . . . there's always that possibility."

Renna looked up at Spyro and asked, "So what you're saying is to be cautious and keep the legend in mind, but try not to worry about it?"

"Exactly," replied Cynder as she let go of the twins and allowed them to move about again.

"Okay, that's enough story time for one day," said Spyro. "It's time to get to work. Who wants to fight Wither? Trick question. Everyone gets to fight Wither."

Everyone gave a groan when they heard this and glanced at Wither who stood, stretching his muscles and cracking some of his joints. Cynder cringed at the sound of his popping and said, "Stop that, Wither. That's not good for you."

Wither paused at his mother's words and stared at her with the end digit of his paw bent beneath his other before popping the last joint. Cynder sighed and shook her head at this, causing Wither to ask, "What? I had the last one to go. Alright, who's first then?"

"Everyone," replied Spyro cheerily.

"What?" asked Wither as he dropped his gaze to peer at all of his friends.

Rolling his eyes, Spyro replied, "Well, yeah. You're too strong to have just one opponent. You're fighting everyone at once."

"Even me?" asked Wylee as he looked back and forth between his father and Spyro.

"It would certainly help, but I can't make you join us if you don't want to."

"But I can," added Hunter as he gave his son a light push in the dragons' direction. "Besides, he'd love to. Wouldn't you, Wylee?"

"Of course," replied Wylee as he unsheathed his staff. "I look forward to such a stimulating and enlightening experience."

"Very good," nodded Spyro. "Now remember everyone, Wither becomes distracted when faced with multiple foes, and though he can take down nearly any given individual, his weakness is fighting groups of enemies."

Wither shot his dad a dirty look for reminding them about his little focus problem and said, "Gee, thanks dad. If I close my eyes I can still feel the sunburn on my back." Wither rolled his eyes to rest them on Renna as he said this last part.

She gave him a sheepish grin and mouthed yet another sorry for the occasion. Wither dropped his scathing look and waved her sorry away with a paw, giving her a wink and a friendly smile. Turning back to face everyone, he said, "Eight against one. Hardly seems fair, huh?"

Cynder backed up with Spyro and Hunter, saying, "Enough. You may begin!"

The three old friends sat in the stands and watched as everyone converged on Wither. Predictably, his first move was to turn transparent, rendering himself invulnerable. Wylee, who attempted a quick first strike, had not expected such a cheap move right from the get go and launched the tip of his staff at Wither, which went through him and pierced Roxy's wing on the other side of the circle. Hunter did a face palm as Wylee quickly pulled the spear end back with the push of a button, ripping it out of Roxy's wing and causing him to grunt in pain. Cynder's damaged wing gave an involuntary twitch when she saw the blood dripping from the youngling's wing.

Renna let off a rapid succession of bright flashes, nearly blinding Wither and making him lose focus. Roxy raised a paw and a piece of the ground was torn up and lifted into the air before being broken into tiny pieces that he swirled in small circles around Wither's head for further distraction. Picking up on the plan, Tera let out an ear piercing scream that would have paralyzed Wither had he not been invulnerable to the power that laced the shriek, but he could still hear it and it was extremely loud. Wither screwed his eyes shut in concentration, but his form began to flicker into existence. The moment his classmates saw this, Wylee was up in the air above Wither, who only had time to gasp in surprise before the young cheetah came down on top of him, pinning him to the ground with his weight and holding him down by pointing the spear end of his staff at the base of Wither's skull.

Wither focused on Wylee's life force and sucked away at it until Wylee stumbled off of him, nearly falling down, but miraculously regaining his balance before turning to see Wither shift. He reappeared next to Psy who gave a yelp of surprise before both dragons were consumed by the black clouds of nothingness that grew outward from Wither's body until they were shrouded in a dome of writhing black. Everyone looked at the dome with an uneasy feeling, waiting for something to happen and wondering if they should dare to brave its interior, but before they could decide, the clouds receded to the point where Wither had been standing, leaving behind nothing but Psy who lay on the ground, unconscious.

The others looked all around, trying to find Wither, but he was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, black clouds formed in the air to pass through Roxy who tried to escape them, but was only followed. After a few passes from the clouds, he became weak and slow, which made him easier to catch. A few seconds later, he shared Psy's status. Elleca gave a huff of frustration at fighting an enemy that was anchored in another dimension, but this frustration was short lived. Another, larger black cloud appeared and Wither fell out of it, landing on his feet to face his remaining foes.

Renna tried to shoot a sunbeam at him while she had the chance, but she couldn't work up enough energy to do it and instead only fired a bright flash that caught his attention. Giving her a confused look, Wither started to make his way toward her, but in doing so, turned his back on Elleca who was beside him in a flash. Wylee took his other side and together, they pummeled Wither with a barrage of blows that would later leave nasty bruises. Before they could beat him into submission, he managed to turn transparent again and shift away. He landed on Renna and said, "You should have nailed me when you had the chance." Before she could respond, he pulled his dark crystal out of a black cloud and turned in long ways, wedging it between Renna's horns, making sure it was good and stuck between them. He shifted away and tackled Vera, somehow wrestling her to the ground even though she was a tad bigger than him. Poison began to bleed out from under her scales and made him jump away, reeling in pain.

After draining the poison away, he was once more faced with Elleca who had agreed to go after him while Wylee, who wasn't effected by Wither's crystals, pulled the black one out of Renna's horns before chucking it into the stands. Elleca beat Wither unmercifully until he was lying on the ground in pain. With a powerful surge, Wither drained all of Elleca's strength and forced himself to a standing position as she fell to the ground. He let out a cry and black tendrils rose up out of the ground, whipping the air and lashing out at all of his foes. Wylee was able to use his lightning speed and agility to dodge the field of dark nothingness and reach Wither. The cheetah stepped on Wither's tail and reached around his sides to place his arms under Wither's forelegs and grab his horns to push his head down, hurting his neck in the process. Even his tail was of no use with Wylee's foot holding it firmly in place. Vera ran in front of Wither when his tendrils of nothing vanished and she opened her maw, charging up a poison shot while Wylee held him for her.

After thinking over his options, Wither decided that his father was right about one thing. He didn't have wings for nothing. Wither spread his wings as fast as he could and cuffed Wylee in the head on both sides with them. As Wylee's grip on Wither loosened, Wither ducked just in time to avoid the poison that Vera launched at him. However, it wasn't completely wasted since it hit Wylee square in the chest, making him yelp and rip his shirt off. He threw it to the ground where it sizzled and burned in a puddle of the noxious discharge. He didn't seem too happy about the friendly fire and the loss of a new shirt, but he couldn't really complain after what he did to Roxy. Unfortunately, the poison had soaked through the shirt before he could get it off and had burned all the fur off his chest. Other than that and a few painful looking first degree burns, he was fine considering how bad it could have been.

Wither thought it prudent to drain Wylee more thoroughly now that he could focus on him. Once he fell, it was just Renna and the twins. He faced them and then realized his mistake. In all the excitement, he had forgotten about calm, cool, and collected Sora. She was silent the whole time and had hung back since the beginning of the fight, taking a more passive approach to the battle, but now that Wither had his back to her, she took the opportunity to lift him in the air and give him a spin. By the time the gust set him down, he was dizzy and disoriented. He stumbled, unable to keep his balance as he tried to make the world stop spinning. Before he could gather his senses, Tera gave another loud shriek in his direction, paralyzing him with the unnatural fear that overcame one attacked by a fear dragon.

Wither stood paralyzed on the spot, his head still reeling from the aerial ride Sora had sent him on. His remaining attackers approached him, but Spyro and Cynder ended the fight, claiming that Wither had lost. Once Wither was back to normal he gave a sigh of disappointment for failing. Cynder nudged him and said, "Don't worry, Wither. You performed wonderfully!"

Spyro nodded in agreement and said, "We knew you wouldn't win if we pitted you against all of your friends at once, although I must say you gave them quite a fight."

He and Cynder revived the others before Cynder continued. "This exercise had two purposes. First, it was meant to show you that a little team work can go a long way. When you work together, you can bring down even the mightiest of foes. The second reason was to remind you, Wither, that you can't do everything on your own. Rely on your friends. When the nine of you work together, you can accomplish great things."

After the opening event, the class continued as per usual. Hunter and Wylee ventured to the side to spar with one another, revealing that Wylee had inherited every bit of Hunter's near legendary fighting prowess and then some. The eight dragon students split up into groups again with four to a teacher and continued several brutal exercises that were meant to build muscle mass in places they didn't even know existed. Several hours into the day, everyone became tired and hungry, deciding to take a lunch break.

After half an hour of hunting, Spyro and Cynder came back with enough food for everyone in the arena. They all sat together in a circle as they usually did and began to eat happily while they talked to one another. As they feasted, everyone stopped to listen when Spyro and Cynder started to recount the glory days with Hunter. Everyone had heard the tale of the legendary heroes exploits in the past, but hearing it again was always a treat. After they finished the story with Malefor's defeat, they moved on to the events that took place after the war in an attempt to catch up once they had parted ways in Warfang those twenty years ago.

Spyro and Cynder were quite thorough in explaining the events that unfolded in their lives after they returned to Warfang and stopped when they had fully explained how they came to where life had brought them. However, once it was Hunter's turn to tell his story, it didn't take long for those in the circle to look around at one another as though asking each other if they had missed something. According to the looks on Spyro's and Cynder's faces, it was clear to everyone that they, too, were aware of the fact that, for some strange reason, Hunter was leaving massive gaps in his story. By the time he was done sharing, it appeared as though several years were left forgotten.

Everyone one remained quite once he was done, especially Wylee, who sat very still, intently looking down at his food, not looking away from it for a second, not even to blink. In an attempt to break the awkward silence that ensued, Roxy cleared his throat and asked, "So . . . uh . . . Wylee. Where's your mom? I haven't seen . . . her . . . at all." Roxy's speech trailed away once he saw the mortified look on Wylee's face.

He wasn't looking at Roxy or anyone for that matter. His eyes had widened in shock due to the unexpected question, and he continued to stare down at the ground as though he were afraid it would open up and swallow him whole. Without moving a muscle, his eyes darted sideways at his dad. Hunter had stopped eating, and looked across the circle with a blank stare as though he were gazing past those watching him on the other side. His eyes were glazed over, revealing that he had checked out for the moment. Then, without a word, the cheetah got up and walked away from the group much to the protests of Spyro and Cynder.

"Hunter! Wait! Hunter! Come back!" Spyro was ignored as Hunter kept walking until he was out of sight. Wylee let out a long sigh and covered his face with his hands.

"I'm sorry. Was it something I said?" asked Roxy.

Elleca jabbed him in the side and hissed, "You idiot. Didn't it ever cross your mind that she's no longer with us or something? Why do you always have to open your mouth?"

Wylee pulled his hands down his face, revealing the very picture of sorrow. "It's not your fault, Roxy. You didn't know. I'm actually surprised this hasn't some up sooner."

Cynder got up and laid down next to Wylee. "I'm sorry, Wylee. Is she. . ."

"Dead? Who knows?"

"You don't know if she's dead?" asked Spyro in surprise.

Wylee shook his head and replied, "No. I never knew my mother."

"Didn't Hunter ever tell you about her?" asked Cynder in a half confused, half sympathetic voice.

"Every time I ask about her, he blanks out and walks away like he just did. He refuses to tell anyone anything about her. I don't even know her name."

Several of the dragonesses gasped when he revealed this. Renna actually covered her mouth in horror at the idea of a youngling not knowing his own mother's name. Suddenly feeling even more sympathetic than before, Spyro asked, "Well, what about the people in your village? Surely they know who your mother was."

Wylee merely shook his head again as he looked down at the remains of his meal, suddenly looking tired. "I've asked the elders of my village about her, but they said that Hunter didn't return to the village until five years after the end of the war. They thought him lost in the cataclysm, but fifteen years ago, he suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They said he just stumbled out of the woods one day, looking more dead than alive. All he had on him was a pack of food, water, a bow and arrows, and me. I was only a newborn then, barely three months old. When my father returned, everyone rejoiced and tried to throw a celebration, but they said he was in a bad way when he came back. The people of the village took him in and brought him back to full health, but once that was accomplished, he just walked around the village like a ghost, paying no attention to his surroundings and speaking to no one. Then, one day, he just snapped out of it and woke up. He went around the village like he had always been there and didn't mention anything about being missing for five years. If anyone asked about me, he would say that I was his son as if it were a stupid question. When pressed for information about my mom, he would ignore them as if they hadn't said anything. After a while, everyone just dropped it. No one mentions it anymore."

After Wylee's explanation, everyone just sat in silence. For a moment, no one really knew what to say, but then Cynder wrapped a wing around Wylee and pulled him in, saying, "You know, Wylee, Spyro and I never knew either of our parents, and look how we turned out. We have each other, and we have Wither. Our lives are happy and complete. There's no reason why you can't go on to achieve the same thing."

Cynder's words visibly eased Wylee's pain, if only a little. He nodded his head and stood up. "I guess I should go after him. I'm the only one who can break him out of his moods when this happens." Wylee walked away, using the same exit as his father to leave the arena.

When Wylee was gone, Spyro said, "I had no idea that Hunter was so haunted by his past."

Hunter walked through the city in a daze. Buildings faded away to be replaced by trees and the cobblestone street beneath his feet turned into a dirt path worn into the ground, leading through the forest. The smell of dragons and the sound of war preparations fell away to the fresh odor of soil and the sweet melody of unseen birds calling out to one another through the dense foliage. A carefree smile crept its way across Hunter's face as the memories of the years melted away and he realized that he was back where he belonged. After a time, the trail he followed lead him to an opening in the trees and he found himself at the edge of a massive clearing. The place he found himself at now was a beautiful meadow deep in the middle of the woods, a secluded paradise forgotten by the world. In the middle of the clearing there sat a quaint little cabin. Seeing it again brought tears to the beaming cheetah's eyes.

After staring at the solitary building for a while, the cheetah looked down at his hands and around his body. There was no game on his person, so he hadn't been hunting, and he carried no buckets, which meant that he hadn't paid a visit to the nearby stream for water. Perhaps he had simply decided to go for a stroll through the forest? He couldn't really remember where he had been or what he was doing, and he didn't care. All that mattered was that he was going home. For some reason, it felt like ages since he had left this place.

Making his way through the field toward the house in the center, Hunter looked around at everything in his expansive yard. An axe leaned idly against one side of the house next to a pile of logs that Hunter kept stored neatly right up against the house. An overhang spread all around the cabin to offer protection from any rain up to three feet from the outside walls, which also served to keep the firewood dry. In the yard, there stood targets that had been set up for practicing archery and some other sort of shooting sport. Some were riddled with hundreds of little holes where countless arrows had made their marks, and others were charred and blackened as though they had been set aflame. . .

Once Hunter reached the front door, he pulled it open, stepped inside, and was immediately greeted by the welcoming scents of cedar and rosemary. It didn't take him long to realize that there was a stew cooking over the fireplace, but above all these wonderful smells, throughout the entire house, there faintly wafted her scent, too. . . Stepping over the threshold, Hunter walked into the kitchen area. The cupboards where all of the dishes were kept and a slightly cluttered counter formed an L against the far right wall and the wall just to the right of the entrance. A round table big enough for three or four sat several feet away from the doorway, forcing anyone who wanted in or out of the house to step ever so slightly around it. As he did so, he looked around to admire his craftsmanship, as well as the more feminine touches that added to the home. . . A fire blazed in the fireplace built into the far wall next to the living area where several chairs were set up for the residents to relax.

A staircase against the left wall led up to the second floor, something that was considered a luxury by most cheetahs. After climbing the steps, Hunter turned the corner and came out into a hallway that bisected the upper story. Only one door stood on either side of the hallway. Sneaking his way to the one on the right, Hunter peered inside to behold a room that was covered in furs. Everything was soft and padded to make the room baby proof. A small crib sat in the corner with a peacefully sleeping cheetah cub lying in it for the night. Several toys lined the shelves along the walls, waiting for the days when the tiny wonder was old enough to play with them. Hunter smiled to himself and quietly backed out of the doorway.

He made his way across the hall to the other room. It was dominated by a queen size bed with the footboard facing the entrance and the headboard flush with the wall. There was a nightstand on either side of the bed, each with two drawers where extra clothes were kept, and fairly different messes cluttering the tops of each. The left one displayed a hunting knife, half a cup of water, and an inactive lantern. Next to the table, an unstrung bow and a quiver of arrows sat propped up in the tiny space between the table and the wall. The table on the right held a veritable assortment of quills, ink bottles, charts and scrolls, both used and blank parchment, a bottle filled with a blue mystery liquid, and a book depicting a seven pointed star on the cover. And there she was, sitting propped up on her side of the bed like she always did, looking down at her notes and making scribbled markings that were completely incomprehensible to him, but nevertheless, her life's work.

When he entered the room, she stopped and looked up at him, flashing him a beautiful, loving smile. "I thought you'd never come back."

"I went for a walk, but I'm back now." Hunter went to her side of the bed, signaling her to set her work down on her nightstand. He pulled her off the bed with ease and wrapped her in a warm embrace. She gave a cute little squeak of pleasure at being pressed so tightly against his muscular form. Hunter held her close to him and swayed lightly, pivoting at the ankles and rocking her from side to side. He wanted to never let her go. Pushing his face into her neck, he took a deep breath, getting a good dose of her scent and relishing everything about the moment. It was getting dark now, and he let go of her long enough to light the lantern on his side of the bed and partially close the shutter to dim it so that it cast a soft, relaxing glow around the room. Now he turned to her again and looked into those radiant, piercing, blue eyes that could make him do just about anything when they looked at him just right. She stood all alone on her side of the bed now, shivering lightly and staring up at him with a hopeful look in her eyes.

"The baby's asleep," she said in a hushed whisper, stepping around the bed to his side. He leaned down and placed his nose against her own, his eyes crinkling in a joyous smile. He took her meaning with a silent nod and wrapped his arms around her once more. This time, he picked her up and laid her down on the bed. For a moment, he was content to merely stare at her, making her squirm before quietly pleading, "Hunter." There was such longing and passion lacing her voice and painting her face that he gave in, no longer capable of waiting another second, and climbed up on the bed to join her.

By the time night had settled, he held her warm, slender body against his own. She had fallen asleep in his arms after his affections. Her head rested on his shoulder and she draped one arm over his chest while the other lay under his pillow. He held her with both arms and tangled his legs with hers in an attempt to get as close as possible. Being with her made him happier than anything else he could remember. Nothing meant more to him than the woman beside him and the baby in the next room. Letting out a sigh of contentment, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

He awoke the next day, feeling fresh and new. The birds outside sang their morning song, and the sun shone through the slits in the screen that covered the window. He stretched his body and noticed that his beloved wasn't beside him. Thinking she had gotten an early start on the day, he got up and dressed. When he didn't find her downstairs, he looked out the window, but she was nowhere to be seen. Going to the door for a better look, he noticed a small piece of parchment wedged between the door and the frame. Opening the door a crack, he pulled it out and looked it over, instantly recognizing his wife's handwriting.

_Dear Hunter,_

_By the time you read this, I will already be far, far away. Please don't hate me. Trust me, I have my reasons, but I'm not so certain you would understand. There is much to do and little time to prepare. I hope I still have time to make a difference. You will come to understand in time. I'm doing this for our little Wy. When the time comes, I will return to you both, but until then, I must ask you not to go looking for me. I love you so much, Hunter. Take care of Wylee. I'll always be thinking of my two special boys._

The letter was signed with love and came to an end. Dread gripped Hunter as the quickly scribbled note shook in his hands. He felt his heart fall into his stomach as he read the note again, taking in its meaning. After a moment, he flipped the parchment over, but the other side was blank. He placed the note in his pocket and ran around the house, gathering up the essentials for a long trip. He packed food and water and ran up the stairs to get his knife, bow, and quiver of arrows. As he jogged out of the room, he noticed bitterly that everything on the other side of the room was also gone.

Slinging everything on his back, he made his way to Wylee's room. He stared down at his child as tears built up in his eyes. The infant still slept peacefully in his crib, unaware that his mother had walked out of his life. Carefully, Hunter lifted the child out of his bed without rousing him and placed him in a harness that strapped Wylee to his chest. After leaving a note on the table explaining where his wife could find him, he left the cabin and set off on a journey to the distant Avalar Valley.

Hunter looked down at the cub as he walked, aware that the little bundle was all the family he had now. As he made his way to the edge of the clearing, he resolved to give the cub everything he could. A life in the cheetah village would give him a home. This place no longer felt like it. Not without her . . . As he walked, the cub awoke and looked up, smiling once he saw the familiar face of his father. Hunter looked down at his son, into those beautiful, piercing blue eyes, her eyes . . .

"Dad?" Hunter solemnly looked up and stopped. His son stood in the middle of the street, barring his way. The cheetahs that had noticed Hunter wandering the streets found Wylee and led him to his father while others followed their troubled friend to make sure he was okay. Now they stood back and watched from a distance as Wylee attempted to draw his father out of himself. "Hey, dad. You just kind of walked away back there. You okay?" Hunter stared back with glistening eyes as Wylee continued. "You know that if anything's bothering you, you can tell me about it, right?" At these words, Hunter tried to walk away again, but Wylee blocked his path. "Come on, dad. Why can't we just talk about it? Walking away will never solve anything."

Hunter's silence pushed the youngling over the edge and he suddenly and unexpectedly grabbed his father by the shirt, throwing him, one handed, against the wall of the nearest building five feet away. He slammed one paw down on Hunter's chest and held him pinned against the wall, actually pushing him up the granite several inches, and punched the wall next to his face with his free paw. "Come on, dad! It's been fifteen years! It's time to move on, but the only way you're going to do that is to talk about what happened. I've been patient with you, but the times are changing. I think it's time you've given me the answers you owe me. I'll let you down when you can tell me just one little thing about her. Just one. Enough to acknowledge her existence. That's all I ask. I'll fight you for it if I have to."

Hunter stared into Wylee's eyes and saw a violent desperation. There lied a deep desire, the most profoundly pleading look imaginable, and he broke. Those eyes, he couldn't say no to those eyes. He leaned forward and looked at his son a moment longer before mustering up everything within him to mutter, "You have her eyes."

Wylee's grip on Hunter slackened instantly as he stared into his father's eyes. Despite the ultimatum, Wylee had doubted he would get an answer so easily. It was the first time his father had mentioned his mother, ever. Wylee noticed how much it had taken for his father to speak of his mother, and he softened up immediately and pulled him into a tight, powerful hug before letting go and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Thank you. Now come on. Let's go back."

They walked back throughout the streets that led to the arena. All the while, Wylee glanced to his sides and waved the rest of the cheetahs away, signaling to give them space. When they returned, the dragons were hard at work again, but they stopped and watched as Hunter and Wylee walked through the arena and sat down in the front row of the stands to take a break for a while. No one commented about the earlier incident and opted to continue their training. After a few minutes, Hunter and Wylee got up to spar some more and the whole group worked until the sun was almost down.

Some of the more elementally inclined students hadn't done too well since they had focused on physical strength in lieu of magic. Wither in particular sported several nasty bruises. His small size made him an easy target, and since the use of magic, or the lack thereof in Wither's case, was strictly forbidden during the exercises, he had taking quite a beating. Psy had been his designated partner for the day, and though he enjoyed Wither's friendship, he had no qualms with landing harsh blows on the tiny dragon, especially at Spyro and Cynder's encouragement. The shadow dragon panted through a satisfied smile as everyone gathered together. When Wither asked him why he looked so tired, Psy grinned and said, "I wore myself out beating you up."

Spyro called out, "Good job everyone. You all performed well, some of you better than others. Wither, you clearly hide behind your elemental powers, as do you Renna. Top marks go to Roxy and Elleca today. Your physical capabilities are exemplary for your age."

Cynder gave the cheetahs a smile and added, "Though, if we're including Wylee, I'd have to say he definitely has the upper hand on all of you in the field of martial arts. I was watching you today, and I must say you have unbelievable skill. You're a prodigy, every bit the warrior your father is."

Wylee bowed and replied, "It is an honor to receive such praise from you."

Cynder laughed and said, "If I was out of magic, I'd be a little intimidated by you." The dragoness turned to face her students again and said, "I think next time we do this, we'll separate the twins, though."

"Oh, definitely," replied Spyro. "Talk about a never ending series of counterattacks. Did either of you ever manage to land a hit on the other? I got bored of watching that fight about twenty minutes in."

Tera suddenly lunged toward her sister just as Vera stepped out of the way in an effort to make her fall to the ground. Tera then did a roll and whirled around to block her sister's attack from behind. When this was done, they both shook their heads and replied, "Huh uh."

Spyro sighed and rolled his eyes before smiling and saying, "I didn't think so. I admire your endurance, though. You two were at it for hours. Alright, everyone is free to go, except you, Renna."

Everyone looked at Renna with curious faces before scurrying home and saying their goodbyes. Hunter and Wylee waved goodbye as well and made their way back to the barracks. Once everyone was gone, Renna looked up and asked, "Am I in trouble?"

"Not really," replied Spyro. "But we need to talk to your parents. Why don't you lead us to your house so we can meet them."

Renna looked slightly taken aback by the request and said in a barely audible tone, "Oh, uh . . . o-okay." She then turned around and gave Wither a questioning look. He merely shrugged and started walking next to her.

After a few seconds of silence, Wither looked over at her and said, "You look awful."

She glared at him for a moment before realizing that he was talking about her bruises. She gave a moan of pain and replied, "I _feel_ awful. I didn't know how strong Sora was. She destroyed me today. I was always under the impression that she was a pacifist, but she hits hard. It looks like Psy had fun with you, too."

Wither sighed and threw his head back to tell the sky, "I'll get him back later when I'm allowed to use my nothing. Let's see how he and Sora will enjoy an extended vacation in the Void, eh?"

Both of them laughed at that before Cynder cleared her throat and said, "There'll be none of that. Your sparring matches are sparring matches, not battles to the death. We won't let you beat each other to death, and we won't allow excessive force with elements. Besides, if you leave your friends in the Void without your supervision, you might accidentally give them Amophis status and be unable to get them back out. I don't know, but I wouldn't risk it."

Wither rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah, I don't think it works like that, but I'll be careful."

"See that you do," replied Spyro, sounding stern for once.

Wither scrunched his face up and sucked air through his teeth and said, "Okay, geez, you sound like my dad."

Spyro raised an eyebrow at Wither from behind him and looked at Cynder. She shook her head and said, "Don't look at me. He's your son right now."

Renna laughed as Wither easily got away with mocking the Purple Dragon. Wither raised his head high in the air and started laughing too, but as he took another step, a tall pillar of earth shot out of the ground under his foot and flipped him over with a squeak of surprise causing him to careen into Renna, toppling them both. Now it was Spyro and Cynder's turn to laugh as the younglings picked their bodies apart and brushed themselves off. They both turned around to leer at the two dragons, watching with miffed expressions as Cynder held on to Spyro for support so she wouldn't fall over in her mirth. "That wasn't funny," grumbled Wither.

Cynder rubbed under her eye with a paw and asked, "Awe, did we hurt baby Wither?"

Spyro patted Cynder to quiet her and added, "You're no sport. You sound like my son." This redoubled the intensity of Cynder's fit of laughter, causing her to shake silently as tears formed at the corners of her eyes.

Renna glanced at Wither and groaned, "Your parents are weeeiiird."

"Yeah, they get like this sometimes," replied Wither as he shook his head at them. He closed his eyes and quietly muttered, "You have to love them, Wither. They're your family." Wither started laughing too and Renna watched in delight as the most famous family in Warfang lost it in the middle of the street for no apparent reason. Wither then calmed down and said, "Oh, it feels good to laugh again. I didn't think I could anymore. Since . . . well . . . you know."

Renna pat Wither on the shoulder and said, "It's alright. I'm sure Yarrow's laughing too right now."

Wither grew slightly somber again and said, "Yeah well, we'd better get going."

Once Spyro and Cynder were able to compose themselves, they continued to follow Wither and Renna through the city. Not long after they left the arena, they came to a halt in front of a single story home, though it was still large for having only one floor. Renna held out a paw and said, "Here we are. It's not as big as your place, but it's home."

Cynder looked the place over and said, "I think it's a lovely building."

Renna gave a nervous laugh and said, "Thank you. Although, it's nicer on the inside." She stepped toward the front door and stopped just beyond the point where it would open for her and turned around to point a claw at Spyro. "I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize in advance for my mom. She's an ice dragon, so . . . you know."

Spyro sucked his lips into his mouth and replied, "Yeah, I think I do. Thanks for the heads up."

With that, Renna strolled through the doorway and said in a singsong voice, "I'm home."

Wither and his parents followed Renna to the door and stopped just outside the threshold. From just inside, they heard a deep, gravelly voice rumble the words, "Ah, there's my girl. Is there someone at the door?"

Renna turned around to look back at the Spyro family before facing the unseen speaker and asking, "Daddy, do you mind if we have visitors?"

"Visitors?" A noise like metal scrapping against granite echoed through the doorway and several heavy footsteps were made toward the door before the voice asked more quietly, "Who is it?"

Renna scratched the back of her neck and gave a nervous laugh, saying, "Would you believe it's the entire Spyro family?"

A moment of silence met these words before the voice picked up a more rushed tone and said, "Well, let them in, sweetie. Don't keep them waiting outside."

Renna moved away from the door and ushered everyone inside. Upon entering the house, the family of three noticed that half of the house seemed to be dedicated to acting as the living room. Four massive pillars, each roughly three feet in diameter, rose from the floor like silent sentinels in each corner of the room to meet the ceiling fifty feet above so as to hold it in place. In the center of the room, there sat a tiered basin much like the one on the ground floor of Wither's home. Though this one wasn't as deep, it was wider, allowing more room for guests of larger build. The wall opposite of the entrance depicted a rather intricate and impressively thorough family tree, the bottom of which, displayed a picture of Renna, no doubt painted on by a mole gifted with the talent to create an exquisite likeness of someone just by looking at them. The wall fell short of extending all the way to the walls on either side, creating two hallways, down which there lay what had to be bedrooms and an unseen kitchen where a divine odor was wafting throughout the house.

Wither was the first to enter the room directly behind Renna. As soon as he sidled up next to her, a massive paw placed itself over his body and drew him in. He looked up and opened his mouth an inch in awe of the dragon that stared down at him. Were it possible, Wither certainly would have lost some of the color in his scales, but the grey youngling merely stared at the mountainous earth dragon that peered down at him with a warm smile. The most immediate thing Wither noticed about him was that he was unnaturally large, even for an earth dragon. He was easily a time and a half the size of Spyro and would have even come about a head under the ancient Yarrow who had earned his size over the span of countless years. The dragon's eyes were as rich as the darkest soil and glinted with tiny flecks of gold at every twitch. A crown of thin quills sprouted from the sides of his head and curved back slightly to point toward his wings. His mossy colored back was mottled with random patches of a rare, naturally occurring jade armor, the likes of which was known to wax rougher than diamonds, given enough time. However, the armor failed to grow on his underside, where nothing but olive scales grew from under his jaw to the tip of his tail, which ended with an impressive organic emerald with one side smoothed flat where it always slid across the ground.

The dragon curled his tail around Wither and raised it to peer at the youngling through the gem that graced the end of his tail. "Mmm, yes. The ancestors favor this one. I see that they watch over him from the other world. Perhaps that's Yarrow's doing, hmm? Although, judging by the looks of things, I'd say they've been keeping an eye on him for quite some time." The giant dragon released Wither and dropped his tail to the floor to view Wither through his eyes alone. "Although, you are a bitty thing if I do say so myself. Greetings, Wither. My name is Mesa. As I'm sure you've guessed by now, I am Renna's father."

Wither bowed his head quickly and replied in a slightly shaky voice, "H-hello Mesa. It's n-nice to meet you."

Spyro looked up at Mesa and gave a quick laugh before asking, "What did your parents feed you?"

Mesa allowed a low, rumbling chuckle to escape his throat before he leaned down to reply, "My bones are made of draconic jade, too, a rare condition, even for one with a predisposition to grow the stuff, but the result is my body's exponential growth so it can keep up with the size of my frame. On the plus side, you have a better chance of pulverizing the hardest gemstones with your bare paws than breaking any of my bones. The moles who gave the diagnosis claimed that I was built to be a war machine, but I'd prefer to stay at home and play with my daughter any day." Mesa patted Renna on the back and gave her a loving smile. He then turned around to face Spyro and Cynder again and asked, "To what, do I owe the pleasure of receiving a visit from the whole Spyro family?"

Cynder glanced down at Renna and licked her lips before responding carefully. "We have come to talk to you about your daughter's performance in class." Wither and Renna shared a look before casting their gazes upward again.

Mesa held up a paw to stop Cynder before gesturing toward the basin in the center of the room and saying, "Why don't we talk about this over dinner. I'm certain my wife won't mind preparing a few extra meals."

Spyro bowed his head and replied, "It would be an honor."

Wither and his parents followed Renna to the basin and seated themselves before Mesa said, "I'll go tell my wife that we have company. Make yourselves at home." With that, Mesa lumbered away, his footfalls pounding lightly on the granite floor.

Once he was gone, Renna asked, "Did I do something wrong?"

Spyro shook his head and replied, "You're number two in the class for a reason, but you aren't perfect. There isn't anything specific that you have done wrong, but we feel you could improve with a little. . . nudge."

Renna scowled at the floor between her paws and let out a sigh before looking up at Wither and asking, "So what do you think of my dad? I'm sorry if he scared you. Everyone usually finds him intimidating, but he seems to like you."

Wither swished his tail about for a moment before answering. "He's. . . big. I think, uh. . . Wow, is he big."

Renna nudged Wither in the side and asked, "So what? Do you _like_ him?"

Wither took a deep breath and puffed up his cheeks before blowing the air out of a tiny 'oh' he made with his mouth. "Yeah, I guess so. I just wasn't expecting him to. . ." Wither searched around for the right words before continuing, "Snatch me up like prey."

Renna stifled a giggle and rolled her eyes as she replied, "So long as you mean no one in my family harm, my dad loves most everyone. Personal space isn't something he thinks about too often, but he was just being friendly."

After a couple minutes, Mesa came back down the hallway to the right, carrying a large side of beef in his jaws and slammed it down in the middle of the basin. "There's more. I'll be back in a moment." He then returned from whence he came, leaving several drooling mouths and hungry eyes behind. However, despite their hunger, they waited for Mesa to return with another chunk of meat large enough to feed three adult dragons. After setting it down, he gave another one of his throaty chuckles and said, "One more." Cynder raised her eyebrows at the idea of everyone needing more meat, but said nothing as Mesa retreated into the kitchen for the final time.

Not a minute later, he returned with a third piece of food and placed it next to the others before sitting down next to Renna and rolling one of his paws in a circular motion and whispering, "Pause for dramatic effect, and three. . . two. . . one."

As if on cue, an ice dragoness waltzed down the hallway and across the room before daintily making her way down the steps of the basin to settle down next to Mesa. Her slender body moved with the grace of the wind, swaying gently and showing off every curve of her sculpted body. She barely made a sound as she walked, a trait indicative of ice dragons, especially females. The size of her frame in contrast to Mesa's made Wither secretly wonder how the giant didn't break her. She was about as tall as Cynder, boasting a similar build. Though she appeared leaner by comparison, her sinewy limbs spoke of a hidden strength that one would most likely regret to call forth. Her eyes glinted brightly in the light like smiling sapphires as they swept over the Spyro family, taking in every detail. As she lowered her body to sit next to Mesa, a thin line of ivory spines could be seen starting between her two curving horns before traveling down the glistening azure expanse of her back to die away where her tail grew a clear cone of a material similar in appearance to amber.

Once settled, she placed a paw over her snowy chest and inclined her head ever so slightly to announce, "We are proud to have you dine with us in our own home. Had anyone ever told me that I would have the Purple Dragon and his family feast under my roof one day, I wouldn't have believed another word to pass their lips for all their life. It _is_ an honor."

"The pleasure is ours," replied Spyro with a nod of his head and an uncomfortable smile.

"Oh, such modesty. Truly, you are a wonder. Ah, but where are my manners? My name is Glacianne."

"Well met, Glacianne," replied Cynder.

The ice dragoness beamed at Cynder and said with wide eyes, "Alright, who's hungry?"

Everyone pulled some of the food toward them and began to enjoy the meal. Cynder swallowed her first bite and asked, "So how are the preparations going?"

Glacianne wrapped her tail around her husband's and replied, "Oh, it's the same thing every day. Mesa digs the trenches and I ice over that steep one. We've gotten about halfway around the perimeter of the city now. Everything's moving along quite well. How goes the training?"

Spyro cleared his throat and said, "That's actually why we came here. We wanted to inform you of your daughter's progress." Mesa and Glacianne exchanged thoughtful looks before turning to face Spyro and Cynder once more. "While she's a paradigm of talent and raw power, she rarely gives a compelling performance during practical application exercises."

"What does that mean?" interrupted Renna, sounding downtrodden.

Cynder looked down and replied, "It means you fail to impress during sparring matches. You don't push yourself, you never apply all of your abilities, and you purposefully hold back when you are in a position to land a battle deciding blow. Ah ah, don't argue with me. Spyro and I know you hold back. We can see it in your actions.

"When learning new techniques or practicing by yourself, it's clear you're a natural. What we don't understand is why you become so skittish when it's time to use your abilities against your friends in the arena. You shy away from confrontation more than Sora. If you continue on this way, you won't be ready for a fight of any kind, so we decided that it's time we took the matter to your parents." Cynder looked to Mesa and Glacianne as she finished speaking.

Glacianne used a paw to wipe a trickle of blood off her face before leaning around Mesa and asking, "Renna. Is this true?"

Mesa put his food down and said, "We can talk about it later, Glaci. Why don't we just enjoy the fo—"

Suddenly Glacianne reached up to place a paw over Mesa's mouth and said, "No. We're going to talk about it right now while Renna's teachers are with us. I'd like to get this sorted out as soon as possible. Now, Renna, what seems to be the problem?"

All eyes turned to Renna who now sat with her head low and prodded at her food disinterestedly. She twitched her eyes up toward her mother without moving her head before staring back down at her food. After a moment of silence, Mesa spoke up. "Really Glaci, you're embarrassing her in front of company. Can't we just talk about something else?"

Glacianne slowly inclined her head to stare up at Mesa with a blank expression. After a few seconds, Mesa lowered his head and continued to eat without a word. Glacianne patted Mesa on his foreleg and turned back to Renna to say, "I'm sorry, sweetie, I didn't hear that."

Renna looked up and replied, "I didn't say anything."

The ice dragoness tapped her claws on the floor and remarked, "How rude. I know we've taught you better. You answer your elders when they speak to you. I hope you don't treat your teachers with the same disrespect."

Renna shook her head and said, "I'm sorry."

Glacianne gave Renna a thin smile and replied, "I would believe it more if you looked at me when you said it, but apology accepted. Now tell me, what's going on in the arena?"

Lashing her tail, Renna looked away and replied with an almost sorrowful tone, "I don't know. I've always been told that I'm exceptional."

"That you are, my love, but something must be amiss or else why would the greatest of warriors bother themselves to come here and tell us otherwise?"

Renna cast a mournful gaze up to her father for more help. He stopped eating again and swished his tail up in the air to inspect his daughter through the emerald. Speaking with slow deliberation, he revealed, "She seems to be afraid of something, and I see. . . regret?"

Glacianne turned from Mesa back to Renna and asked, "Well? Care to explain?" Renna shook her head in a barely noticeable fashion, but when she did so, Glacianne only pressed her further. "What did you do and what are you afraid of? Are you afraid of getting caught for whatever it is? You should have known that your father would see it sooner or later. Come on. Out with it."

"I didn't do anything that anyone doesn't already know about, okay?" responded Renna, sounding beleaguered. She thumped her tail on the ground and looked away from everyone in the room.

Glacianne stopped badgering Renna and chose to take on a sympathetic tone again, attacking from the opposite end of the spectrum of emotions. "Renna, darling, if there's something bothering you, you know you can talk to us about it. That's what we're here for. Don't keep it inside. That's not healthy."

Sighing in defeat, Renna curled up against her father and said, "It's my power. I don't know how to control it. Every time I use it on others, I just end up hurting everyone around me."

"Oh, Renna, that's not true," replied Glacianne with a wave of her paw and a laugh.

Renna stiffened and said, "During the competition, I blew a hole straight through that guy, Omba, without even trying. At the beginning of my training with my friends, I burned Wither so badly that not even the help of red crystals cleared up the worst of his sunburn. And did you forget about the Supernova incident? I almost decimated the entire city. If not for Wither's unique gifts, I would have killed us all."

Glacianne bit her lip and raised her eyebrows as she realized the truth of Renna's words. Then, shaking her head, she replied, "Mistakes, dearie, amateur mistakes. You get better with practice. We've all had our fair share of blunders in the past. It's okay."

"Yeah," replied Renna. "Okay for most dragons. I'm a light dragon. Not to brag or anything, but I understand that that makes me a lot more powerful than most others. If _I_ make a mistake, it hurts others, sometimes a lot. I just don't want to hurt anyone. I hate fighting. If I don't actually try in a fight then I don't have to worry about accidentally hurting anyone."

Glacianne gave a slow nod with her head and said, "Ooooh, now I see. You have too much of your father in you for your own good. Listen, Renna. It's alright to be good natured. It's one of the qualities I find so endearing about your father. However, if you aren't willing to fight for what you believe in, there are those who will take it all away from you. Even your father here will flatten anyone who comes through our door by force."

Renna pouted and asked, "But why do I have to fight my friends? I don't want to hurt them. If I mess up and do too much, I could make something awful happen."

Cynder raised a paw and said, "If I may interrupt, there are two issues I'd like to address. First of all, your lack of control is indeed cause for concern. We were not aware that you do not understand how to set your elemental limitations for a sparring match only. Now that I think of it that actually explains a few things. We will work with you to help you overcome this."

Renna shook her head and replied, "I don't see how it would help. Yarrow taught Wither and me a lot about how to control our elemental abilities. Wither's progress was quick, but I didn't learn anything."

Spyro leaned forward and said, "That's okay. That doesn't mean you are incapable of learning. It simply means that you have more trouble practicing control. Some find it easier than others, and it only makes sense that with more power to control, you'll find it harder than most."

"But Wither is more powerful than anyone, and he learned like lightning."

With a chuckle Spyro replied, "Yes well, Wither is rather powerful, but remember his power is nonexistent. He is a special circumstance, so control comes easier for him than anyone else. Don't worry about it Renna. We'll work on it."

The light dragoness appeared a bit comforted by Spyro's words, but she then said, "Okay, but that still doesn't help me until I can fight without worrying about hurting anyone."

"Which brings up my second point," interjected Cynder. "Until such a time when we feel comfortable with your ability to moderate your power output in battle, we will pit you against training dummies."

Renna's mood brightened even further when she considered the prospect of battling soulless pieces of wood stuffed with straw and animated by magic. They would offer her a challenge and she wouldn't have to worry about holding back. Nodding her head, she replied, "Okay, I would like that."

"Do we have a deal then?" asked Spyro.

"Yeah, I think I can work with that. Thank you Master Spyro, Master Cynder."

Spyro held up a paw and said, "Again, please, there's no need for the 'Master.' We're not so much older than you."

"Yeah, I know, but my mom would probably freeze me to the wall by my tail after you left if I didn't address you as such in front of her."

Glacianne choked on her next bite as Renna said this and sputtered noisily until Mesa reached around her back and slammed his paw against her belly, pulling her body against his own and dislodging the piece of meat from her throat. After a moment to catch her breath, Glacianne replied in a flustered tone, "Oh, the imagination of this one. You'd swear I beat her every day the way she goes on."

Cynder nodded in understanding and said, "I know. The things your little ones say and do sometimes, it's hard to be proud of them, but what are you gonna do?"

All of the parents laughed at this, leaving Wither and Renna to simmer quietly together as they finished the last of their food. Once the meal came to an end, Spyro and Cynder stood and beckoned to Wither. Spyro raised his head and said, "Thank you for your hospitality. Won't you let us return the favor sometime soon?"

"Conditions permitting, we'd love to join you for dinner at your house," agreed Mesa with a grin.

Cynder pulled Spyro closer by the tail and said, "Alright, then. We best be going. Got another long day ahead of us tomorrow. Best of luck with the preparations."

"And good luck with the children tomorrow," replied Glacianne with a bright smile. "If this one gets out of line, you have our permission to knock her around a bit." She nudged Renna in the side hard enough to nearly push her down. Renna head butted her in the leg in response, to which the ice dragoness looked down and said, "Ow, you little monster. Wipe that smile off your face, young lady. It's not funny."

Renna waved at Wither and said, "This was fun when we weren't focusing on my problems. I look forward to doing again."

Wither gave her a smile and said, "Same here. Alright, we have to go now. See you tomorrow."

"Goodbye," called Renna.

Then the Mesa family was blessed with an awe inspiring moment as Wither stepped forward and disappeared into a point in space, followed by his parents. Back in their own home, in the master bedroom, Spyro flopped down on his bed and said, "Well, that was fun, wasn't it? And productive, too."

Cynder nodded in agreement and said, "With all the work we have to do between the council and our schooling, it's been difficult to find the time to make friends. The war times have only served to make things worse."

"Well, I like the Mesa family," replied Spyro with a yawn. "They seem like good, interesting dragons."

Cynder lay next to Spyro and left a little space between them for Wither. "I agree. Why we didn't think of making friends with the parents of some of Wither's friends sooner, I don't know. Mesa and Glacianne appear to be the type that would be fun to spend time with on a regular basis."

Wither crawled up on their pillows and curled up with a cushion between his paws. After a moment, he said, "You forgot to activate the defense orbs."

With a groan, Spyro said, "Ugh, too tired to move." He raised a paw in the air and an orb of multicolored light like a miniature star formed in his palm, shooting out beams of light in every direction and striking the defense orbs, activating each one. Even the ones normally powered by Cynder were lit up, turning the room into a tiny fortress. Once the light show was complete, Spyro lowered his paw and looked down to rest his head. However, he noticed a look of shock on Wither's face and asked, "What?"

"How did you do that?" asked Wither in disbelief.

"You know I can use your mother's powers, too. I just don't do it often."

"Not just that! It's the way you did it. You used eight different elements simultaneously like it was nothing! And you didn't channel your magic through a part of your body. You just summoned an external source of raw magic. That's supposed to be like one of the hardest things ever!"

Cynder chuckled softly and stroked Wither's tail, saying. "Your father and I are more powerful than we let on. There's a reason everyone thinks so highly of us."

For the first time, Wither questioned his win against his father in the arena, but said nothing about the matter. Instead, he lay his head back down and relaxed, pondering this new information. After a few seconds, he absently said, "Yeah, I guess so. Well, I'm tired."

Cynder lowered her head and said, "Goodnight, Wither. Sweet dreams."

"Goodnight mom and dad. Dad?" A snore was Wither's only reply. Wither and Cynder stifled their laughter and promptly fell asleep.


	19. Chapter 18 Outbreak

Chapter 18- Outbreak

"Wither, wake up!"

Wither flew out of bed as a paw jabbed him in the side, jolting him out of his peaceful slumber. He immediately looked around with wild eyes and shouted, "Ah, what!? Are we under attack!?"

Spyro stood by the door and rolled his eyes at his son. "No, we're not under attack you spaz. We just couldn't wake you up is all."

Wither turned to look at his mother with a questioning gaze and shook his head as he frantically looked all around and replied in an anxious tone, "I don't understand. Are you sure? I feel Amophis coming from . . . everywhere!"

Spyro and Cynder suddenly tensed and cocked their heads to listen, falling silent and not moving a muscle. Wither could hear his own heart beating in his ears. His frantic breaths came in shallow gasps that echoed quietly off the walls. After several moments of silence, Spyro asked, "Are you sure? I don't hear anything."

"Yes, I'm sure," hissed Wither through clenched teeth. "Amophis has a very distinct feel to it, and that feeling is coming from all around me."

"Well, if you're sure . . ." replied Cynder, sounding uneasy. "Stay close to us, and try to be quiet."

Wither slunk down the hallway and up the stairs between his parents. As they ascended the steps, Wither tried to push images of death and destruction out of his mind's eye. When they reached the top, Spyro gestured for Cynder and Wither to stay put and inched his head over the lip of the entrance to the roof. After several seconds, he tilted his head forward and they cautiously made their way onto the roof. Wither crawled his way to the edge that overlooked the heart of the city, dragging his belly against the granite and making several rasping, scraping sounds all the way. Spyro and Cynder winced at Wither's flagrant lack of subtlety, but could only watch as he peered over the edge of the roof. Seconds ticked by, but nothing happened. Finally, Wither stood up and abandoned all attempts at remaining unnoticed. "Well, I don't get it. I feel Amophis, but I don't see anything wrong. I don't see anything for that matter. Everyone must still be asleep."

Once Wither's last sentence struck his parents ears, they gave each other a quick look and rushed to the edge of the roof, pulling Wither away and removing him from the line of sight of anyone who happened to be hiding in the city below. After their quick observation, Cynder muttered, "Looks like he was right after all. Something's definitely wrong."

"Yeah, I don't like this," replied Spyro in an undertone.

"What's the big deal?" asked Wither, earning a paw firmly clasped across his maw. Cynder stared down at him with a hard expression, but Wither simply removed her paw with a frown and quietly asked, "What? I don't understand. I said there's nothing going on in the city."

"Exactly," whispered Spyro. "When is the city ever this still at this time in the morning? Look again, Wither. There's _no one_ out there, and I still don't hear anything."

Wither suddenly went rigid with fear as he finally picked up on what his war seasoned parents had realized in an instant. His muscles shook involuntarily and he now had the unshakable feeling that there was something stalking him from several feet behind. "What do we do?"

Cynder turned around and looked at the city again before replying, "One thing's for sure. We can't sit up here all day and wait for something to happen. Let's go have a look around."

"Is it safe?" questioned Wither, sounding unsure about the idea. The prospect of venturing through the empty streets of Warfang with the threat of enemies lurking in the early morning shadows was none too pleasant.

Spyro thought for a moment how to answer his son, but eventually leaned down to say, "Stay between us."

Several minutes later, they all made their way out the front door and slowly walked down the street, searching for anyone else who had braved the outdoors. Their claws clicked on the stone streets as they pushed onward, eyeing every alley, every doorway, every window for a sign of life. By the time they reached the edge of the main plaza, there was still no sign that anyone else was left in Warfang. It was as if everyone had packed up and left in the middle of the night without telling the Spyro family. Spyro leaned toward Cynder to quietly confer with her while Wither looked around from safely between them. The youngling could vaguely hear his father mention something about knocking on doors, but as he turned his head to be a part of the conversation, something moved at the corner of his field of vision. He whirled his head back around to stare across the plaza, but there was nothing there. Whipping his head back to face his parents, he saw that they hadn't noticed anything. He let out a quiet whimper to catch their attention. Once they were both staring at him, he gestured across the square, eyes wide with fright.

Cynder turned around to face their rear while Spyro hunched down and peered intently at the spot Wither had indicated. After several seconds, a tiny flash could be seen in the shadow of one of the buildings. Spyro tapped Cynder on the tail with the tip of his and she turned back around to listen to him. He pulled her face up against his and reached out to point at the hiding spot, whispering, "There."

"I see it."

"Do you think it's a trap?"

"Could be. Are you thinking of rushing through the plaza?"

"Mmm, might be too risky. Let's go around."

Wither chipped in and whispered, "I could shift us over there."

Spyro and Cynder shared another quick glance before turning to their son and nodding. Spyro leaned down and pointed to the edge of the shadow just as the glint appeared again for a brief moment. "How's your accuracy? Can you take us right behind that thing?"

Wither pointed at the wall right next to them and mouthed, "Go."

Spyro surged toward the wall, followed quickly by Cynder. An earsplitting scream pierced the morning air just as Spyro slipped through the wall, followed by a loud roar that definitely didn't belong to Spyro. "Get away from her!"

Wither took a deep breath and rushed forward, lunging into the alley across the square and stumbling onto a confusing scene. Spyro had Renna pinned against the wall. The paw of a massive beast gripped his skull in an attempt to crush it. Cynder lashed out in an attempt to fight off a lithe silhouette that tried with all it's might to pound her into the wall of the nearest building. After a split second, another roar sounded, originating from the massive creature that threatened to crack Spyro's head like an egg. "Hold up! Everyone stop!"

The fighting ceased and all remained motionless, though tensed and at the ready. After a couple seconds, Wither realized that the huge being that held Spyro's head was Mesa and the figure facing Cynder was Glacianne. Gripped in a state of utter confusion, Wither asked, "What's going on here? Renna?"

Spyro suddenly let go of Renna and helped her up. Tears stained her face as she shakily rose to her feet. The Purple Dragon sighed with relief as Mesa let go of his head and said, "My apologies. Are you alright?"

Renna nodded her head and looked up to ask, "Where did you come from? Why did you attack me?"

Spyro pointed across the square and replied, "We saw something shining in this alley from that one over there. Wither shifted us here so we could make a surprise first strike. We thought you were enemies."

Cynder and Glacianne made their way over to the others and joined the circle. The ice dragoness gave a sigh of relief and said, "Don't worry about the mix up. We were watching you, too, and thought the same thing. Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"No, not a clue," replied Spyro. "I was just about to ask you the same thing. You're the first ones we've come across today. All we have to go on is that Wither can feel Amophis everywhere in the city."

Mesa rolled a pebble between two of his claws in thought and asked, "That's the energy Malefor and those younglings use, isn't it? Renna told us about that. I wonder if they could have done something to Warfang in the night."

Cynder tilted her head and replied, "I suppose it's possible, but what? And why spare us from whatever it is?"

Spyro shook his head and said, "There's no telling what the answers to those questions are. There's still too much we don't know. I say we pay someone a house call."

"I agree," added Cynder.

Renna pointed down the alley away from the plaza and said, "Psy's house is just a block away. We could try there."

"An excellent idea, darling," replied Glacianne. "We need to get out of this alley anyway. If there are those who wish us ill amok in the city, your father's roar surely gave away our position."

The parents gathered around the children to protect them, Spyro forming the vanguard and Mesa taking up the rear while the dragonesses flanked the younglings on either side. Renna gave the directions as they quickly made their way out of the alley and across the street to the building just on the other side. Spyro knocked on the door and waited patiently for a response. When none came, he knocked again, this time harder. Finally, he placed a paw on the door and overrode the magical lock sealing the entrance.

Once everyone was inside, Spyro sealed the doorway again to make sure no nasty surprises came from behind. It was dark in the house. All that could be seen were the patches of bright sunlight that lanced into the dwelling through the windows to paint checkered squares of light on the walls and the floor in stark contrast to the shadows that dominated the rest of the house. A soft glow suddenly lit up the foyer as Renna's body emanated light to permeate the room. Two hallways led off to the left and the right from the main room. After a few seconds, Renna said, "Come on. Psy's room is this way if I remember right."

Everyone followed her down the left hallway and stopped in front of a door that Renna claimed was to Psy's bedroom. She moved out of the way so that Spyro could enter the room first, then everyone followed him inside. The first thing Wither noted about the room was that it was darker than the rest of the house. It was almost as if the shadows persisted against Renna's shining scales to wrap the room in an unnaturally resilient darkness.

Glacianne squinted in the poor light and asked, "How can it be so dark in one place?"

Renna looked around and replied, "Psy _is_ a shadow dragon. Maybe he uses his magic to keep it dark in here."

Suddenly, Cynder whispered, "Quiet! I hear something."

All fell silent, listening intently for anything that might be creeping in the shadows. After a time, a shallow hissing noise sounded in a far corner of the room. Everyone turned to the hiding place of whatever being was making the sound and tensed, ready for anything. As they peered into the unrelenting gloom, Mesa leaned down and quietly asked Renna to make it brighter.

Though the shadows resisted her attempts to brighten the room, her power proved too much for them, and the whole room was quickly illuminated. Once they could see what lay in the corner everyone balked at the horrific sight. Cynder instantly realized where everyone in the city was and quietly whispered, "No . . ."

Lying on several cushions was Psy's limp form. It didn't take long to figure out that he was the one making the hissing noises. His breath came in shallow, strained gasps that wheezed though his mouth, which hung slightly ajar. The once glossy surface of his black scales was now ugly and lackluster in appearance, giving him a faded look. He was shivering uncontrollably, though Mesa touched a paw to his side and reported that he had a soaring fever. As they watched him, a small trail of blood was just beginning to make its way down his face from his nose. Everyone watched in silent horror as the first tiny drop formed on his upper lip and fell the last inch to splash quietly on the floor.

Spyro and Cynder looked at each other with grave expressions after figuring out what was wrong with him. The diagnosis wasn't difficult to make. No other illness ever had these effects. He showed all the signs that the last dragon afflicted with the deadly disease exhibited. Cynder lowered her head and said, "Valorie."

Spyro nodded in agreement and replied, "Yes, I fear this is exactly what ailed Valorie, but how did it spread to Psy? Oh no. How many do you think are infected? None of the residents except us were up and about from what we saw. What are the odds of that? Not good . . . Not good at all. I bet nearly half the city is infected."

Cynder snorted in anger and hissed, "Spyro! You're scaring the little ones."

Spyro looked over at Wither and Renna and saw that they had terrified looks on their faces. Taking a deep breath, he let it out nice and slow to calm himself. When he was in control he said, "Alright, alright. Everything's going to be okay. We've fixed this before and we'll do it again. Wither?"

Once Spyro had calmed down, Wither was able to push the thought of how many might be infected to the back of his mind and step forward. He placed a paw on Psy's forehead. The shadow dragon instantly stopped shivering and let out a sigh of relief in his sleep. His fever vanished and his nose stopped bleeding as Wither drew out the Amophis poisoning his body.

Once the task was complete, Wither stepped back and looked his friend over to make sure he was okay. Psy opened his eyes and looked up at the gathering that stood over him. He weakly raised his head and said, "Aw crap. I overslept, didn't I?" He then fell back on his pillows, completely unconscious.

Wither raised his head with pride for saving Psy, and Renna smiled at him, clearly grateful for such a convenient cure to Psy's illness. However, Spyro and the rest of the parents were silently panicking. If no one had shown up outside on their side of the city then there was no telling how many had been touched by the power of Pestilence. Realizing that they needed to act fast, Spyro leaned down and said, "Wither, there are probably more infected. We need to find them and cure them. You're their only hope, seeing as this new disease has no other known cure."

Wither nodded in agreement, knowing deep down that this was going to be a long day. "Where should we start?"

Cynder looked around and said, "If Psy was infected then the rest of his family probably is, too. We need to find them next."

Renna led the group through the house to the other side where Psy's parents slept. Sure enough, when they found the dragons in question, they were in much the same condition as their son was moments ago. Ironically, Psy's father was also a shadow dragon, and his mother was a gorgeous wind dragon. They weren't as far gone as Psy had been, but Cynder determined that it was probably due to the fact that adults were stronger than younglings, which made the disease's effects slower to progress.

Once Wither cured them, they were actually able to gather enough strength to speak with Spyro and Cynder. Psy's father rolled over on his side so as to look up without expending too much energy. Though he could talk, he was still too ravaged by the illness to move properly. "Thank the ancestors you've come."

Cynder gazed down at the sorry figure and soothingly replied, "Don't mention it, and no need to worry. We've already taken care of your son as well."

"Thank you," sighed the mother with relief.

Spyro stepped forward a bit more, still giving the couple their space, and said, "I know you must be weak right now and need your rest, but do you have any idea how you might have picked up the disease? Any information at all would be greatly appreciated."

The two recovering dragons taxed their weary minds for a moment, searching for an answer that would satisfy the question. After a time, Psy's father shook his head and replied, "I can't think of anything out of the ordinary that may have happened. I'm sorry. This just seemed to spring on us so suddenly. We went to bed feeling fine and woke up unable to move."

Spyro nodded in understanding, feeling downcast for a moment, but then Psy's mother spoke up. "Wait, what about yesterday? We met Cyril on the street and talked for a few minutes. Right before we parted ways, he was surprised by a violent coughing fit. He tried to cover it, but it hit him so fast that he accidentally coughed in my husband's face."

Wither looked up and said, "Hey, Cyril was the one who took care of Valorie while she was sick. He must have spread the disease after I healed Valorie."

Spyro agreed and thanked Psy's parents for the information before leading everyone outside to give the stricken family some peace. Upon leaving the house, Spyro turned to Mesa and said, "You and your family should go home. There's nothing you can do to help those infected, and coming along with us could just put you in danger. From the looks of things, this disease is highly contagious."

Renna tried to argue, but Glacianne pulled her daughter against her and placed a paw over her mouth. Once she had been silenced, Mesa replied, "Yes, I believe you're right. Still, I'm confused about one more thing. How is it none of us were infected when everyone in this district seems to be?"

Spyro thought about it for a moment, but shook his head and said, "I don't know. Good question."

Cynder chipped in and said, "Maybe it's because we were only in each other's company last night. Since Wither shifted us home, we didn't meet anyone on our way home either. That's probably the only thing that saved us."

"I'm certain that's it," replied Glacianne as she gave up on holding Renna who had squirmed her way out of her mother's grasp.

Renna smoothed down her ruffled scales while glaring at her mother then said, "I want to go with them. They might need my help."

Glacianne scraped the street with her claws, making Renna cringe as the ice dragoness replied, "Absolutely not. It's too dangerous, just as Spyro stated in his infinite wisdom."

Renna rolled her eyes and mumbled, "You're a hundred years older than him."

Glacianne closed her claws together and said, "Shut it. Besides, the Spyro family doesn't need your help. They are the three most powerful dragons alive aside from the Dark Master."

"I'm pretty sure I'm the fourth," replied Renna hopefully.

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Glacianne. "The potential for it is there, to be certain, but you're hardly up to par with the elders. You couldn't even defeat your father in a battle, and he's just a big hatchling trapped in a moving fortress of a body. Don't let your arrogance shine through young lady."

"I wasn't being arrogant! I'm just saying I could be useful."

"First of all, don't you raise your voice at me. I'm your mother. Secondly, you would sooner get in the way than help anyone. Wither is the only one equipped to resolve the issue at paw. What would you do if we let you go with them?"

"Keep them company, offer moral support, I don't know. _Something._"

Mesa held up a paw to cut Glacianne off. She looked up at him to give him one of her infamous stares, but he glanced down at her, and for once, she saw that she would not be able to sway him. Backing off, Glacianne let Mesa say his peace. He leaned so far down that he almost had to lay his head on the ground. When he was eye to eye with Renna, he said, "You may go."

Glacianne gave an annoyed sound of indignation and tried to interrupt. "Mesa, she's not—"

"She may go . . . and learn. Life has many doors, yes? Many paths, which one can take, though our own path, we must chose and make."

Glacianne bit her lip and nodded. "Very well."

Renna hugged Mesa's foreleg before letting go to beam up at him with delight. "Thank you daddy."

Mesa looked up at Spyro and said, "You only have my go ahead, love. You'll have to ask Spyro what he thinks about the matter."

Letting go of her father's leg, Renna turned around to face Spyro. Looking hopeful as can be, she asked, "Can I go with you?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Spyro simply replied, "I don't see why not if your father is okay with it."

Renna grinned with delight and gave a quick bow of her head as she replied, "Thank you very much. I'll find a way to be useful. I know it."

She turned back to face her father again as if to ask him what she should do now. He nudged her with his snout and said, "Be safe."

"I promise." She then turned to her mom and hesitated before giving her a hug, too. "I'll see you later, okay?"

Glacianne smiled bitterly at her and replied, "You'd better. If you aren't careful, you'll have to deal with me. Both of you," she added as she turned to Mesa. "I mean it. I'll follow you into the world of the ancestors if I have to."

"I love you, too." With that, Renna bounced away to join the patiently waiting Spyro family.

Cynder placed a paw on the young dragoness's back and said, "We'll make sure she's okay. You don't have to worry about anything."

Mesa gave them one nod of his massive head and replied, "I have always seen a long life in her. She will be fine."

The two families parted then, each going separate directions. After a few moments of silence, Renna informed Spyro that Tera and Vera lived close by. The group followed her directions and ended up in front of another simple one story building. Upon entering the home, Renna continued to lead them to the twins' room. Each was in a state much like that of Psy's previous condition, although they didn't seem quite so far gone. Cynder inferred from this that that meant the twins either had stronger immune systems, or they just hadn't been infected for as long.

Indeed, they still maintained a level of strength that allowed them to stand on shaky limbs once Wither finished removing the mysterious illness. However, Spyro and Cynder each forced one of the twins back down on their bed and told them to rest and recover. Once they promised not to move unless they had to, Renna proceeded toward their parents' room. Repeating his process, Wither placed a paw on each of the victims and felt out the Amophis corrupting their bodies before reaching into them with nothing and nullifying the disease.

Upon questioning by Spyro and Cynder, the couple revealed that they had more than likely picked up the plague from Poison Master Hexus, who had visited Vera the night before to see how his best student's training was going. Wither thought back to the moments before he had healed Valorie and vaguely remembered that she had coughed right in his face. After reminding his parents about the incident, they agreed that that meant there was more than one who had spread the disease.

They left the house and moved on to Sora's, continuing to let Renna lead the way since she knew where all of her friends lived. Just as before, they went to Sora first, figuring that she needed attention sooner since she was just a youngling. Once they entered her room, they knew they had made the right choice. Wind dragons were always on the small side, and dragonesses tended not to grow as much as their male counterparts. Since Sora was a wind dragoness, her especially small body made her highly susceptible to the ravages of the infection. A tiny pool of blood was slowing oozing outward from where her head lay, leaking the precious liquid of life from her nostrils.

When she was cured, she remained motionless and unresponsive, though the blood stopped flowing down her face. After a quick check from Cynder, she said that the poor dragoness was still alive, but was still in a bad way. After making sure she was stable, they moved on to her parents. Luckily, their bodies weren't nearly as damaged by the disease as Sora's, so when they were cured, they were able to tell Spyro and Cynder that they had probably gotten the disease from Psy's parents. They had seemed fine when they visited, but they were also the only other dragons they had come in contact with the night before.

Once they left Sora's house, Spyro said, "I see how the disease has spread further than Valorie now, but I still don't understand how it seems to have infected everyone in this district of Warfang."

Cynder shook her head and replied, "It's Amophis based. Who knows what it's capable of? We really have no idea what we're dealing with."

Wither looked around at all the buildings passing by and said, "I can still feel it all around us, too. It's not in the air, but a lot of dragons must have it. That's the only explanation I can give for why it feels like it's everywhere."

Renna gave Wither a worried glance and said, "It sounds like you've got your work cut out for you today. Do you think you'll be okay?"

Letting out a sigh, Wither clutched at his chest for a moment with a grimace before saying, "I don't know. Usually, energy I drain off passes through me and into the Void immediately, but Amophis is different. It's like it's sticking to me. I can feel it passing into the Void, but it's draining so slowly. It's like it doesn't want to go back where it came from or something."

"Or maybe it just likes you," replied Renna, trying to make him feel better.

Wither smiled weakly before saying, "That actually could be it, too. I am a nothing dragon, so maybe draining Amophis is difficult because it wants to serve me. Unfortunately, it can't. It serves Malefor right now."

"Well, is it so bad to have a little extra energy?" asked Renna.

Wither looked up at his parents and saw that they were watching him with concern. Turning back to watch where he was going, he replied, "I can't work my nothing if there's no space for me to drain things into. If I get too full of energy, I won't be able to do anything. It would be like you trying to use light after running out of magic."

A moment of silence passed as the power of this statement sunk in. Then Spyro asked, "How much room do you have?"

Wither scrunched his face up in thought and replied, "I don't really know how to measure something like that, but I've always had a high capacity for energy storage. I mean, I've drained you and mom before. It took all I had, but I did it."

Spyro nodded in agreement before realizing something. "Yeah, but how quickly do you drain that away into the Void?"

Wither lowered his head and muttered, "A little less than a minute."

"How long do you think it will take you to drain off what little Amophis you've consumed so far?"

"Maybe a few minutes."

"So it's not just a little slower, it's reduced to a crawl, isn't it?"

"I'll be fine."

"If you're sure," replied Spyro, eyeing his son with worry.

"I have to. I'm the only one who can fix this."

Cynder leaned down and nudged Wither with her nose. "Hey, just take it easy, okay? Don't push yourself too much. You let us know if you start to get tired. Promise?"

"I promise."

The next stop on their journey through the city was to Roxy's house. As an earth dragon, he naturally had a large build, which served him well in his battle against his malady. Once he was cured, he thought to get up, but stern looks from Spyro and Cynder convinced him to stay put. After a quick thanks, he asked, "The infection, it's spreading, isn't it? Please, Wither, make sure Elleca is okay. Promise me you'll make sure nothing happens to her."

Wither could hear desperation in his friend's voice and nodded in understanding. "Don't worry, Roxy. After I get your parents taken care of, Elleca's house is our next stop."

With his distress allayed, Roxy settled down and promptly fell back to sleep, letting unconsciousness take him away from his troubled thoughts concerning his dearest friend. After tending to his parents, they found out that Roxy's family had, in fact, picked up the disease from Elleca, who had eaten dinner with them, as she so often did, and gone home feeling ill.

Quickly making their way to Elleca's house, they were stopped just outside the dragoness's dwelling by a youngling. Another electric dragoness had been frantically wandering the streets of Warfang, looking for anyone who wasn't bedridden by the terrible epidemic that plagued the city. Upon seeing the Spyro family, she dashed down the street, full tilt, and skidded to a stop, before babbling at them in a wild frenzy. When she finally ran out of air and had to take a breath, Cynder placed a paw over her mouth and said, "Breathe." The dragoness's frightened eyes darted between everyone in the group as she breathed in and out through her nose. When she finally calmed down enough to be coherent, Cynder released her mouth and asked, "What's going on?"

"Please help me! My parents are sick and they won't wake up! I ran outside to find help, but the city looks like it's all but deserted!"

Cynder wrapped a wing around the youngling to comfort her. It was obvious that she had been crying. Cynder could imagine how scared and alone the dragoness must have felt. "Don't worry, young one. The infection has spread to many of the citizens of Warfang, but Wither is the cure. He's been going from house to house, healing everyone we know to be infected. What is your name?"

"Voltina."

"Where do you live, Voltina?"

"Just around the corner."

"Tell you what, Voltina. As soon as we're done here, we'll go see to your parents. How does that sound?"

Voltina only nodded and followed them into Elleca's house. Astonishingly, Elleca was fighting the corruption with everything she had and was actually still awake. When she saw them approach her, she gave them a grimace of pain and wheezed, "Please . . . help me . . ."

Wither obliged, and once she was free of the infection, she sat up and said, "Wow, that feels a thousand times better. Thanks Wither. You're a lifesaver, literally. She stepped forward awkwardly, clearly pushing herself with sheer stubbornness and force of will. "Is Roxy okay? What about my mom and dad?"

"Don't worry," said Renna as she stepped up next to Wither. "We've already gotten to Roxy and your parents are next."

Elleca nodded, satisfied with the answer and turned around to hobble back to her bed. She stumbled as her legs gave out and landed sideways on the cushions. She pouted as her body shivered from exhaustion and said, "So much for the tough girl act, huh? One more step and I could have pulled it off."

"You're weak," said Cynder. "There's no shame in that, considering what you've been through. You don't need to prove yourself when others much stronger than you can hardly lift their heads to speak to us. Yours is an inner strength, a resolve that will help you succeed where others would fail. Rest now."

Everyone then gave Elleca's parents a visit. Once they were revived, they informed Spyro and Cynder that Volteer had visited Elleca yesterday to check up on his prized pupil, much like Hexus had for Vera. However, he had to cut his visit short because he was feeling a bit woozy.

"Oh no," groaned Spyro with dread. "Volteer's sick, too? Ancestors help us." Everyone knew what Spyro was afraid of. It was common knowledge among the citizens of Warfang that Volteer was a social butterfly. He was by far the chattiest dragon in the city, always talking, always visiting, always meeting others. If he was sick, there was a good chance that many more were sick as a result.

"And you were wondering why so many are sick?" asked Wither. "Mystery solved."

Cynder pat Voltina on the back and said, "Alright then. Why don't you take us to your house, Voltina?" The young dragoness was eager to lead them home so that Wither could save her parents.

She led them around the block and to her front door. After leading them to her parents' room she stopped just inside the doorway and sidestepped to let them through. Both dragons lay wheezing on their cushions. Blood had not yet begun to flow from their noses, which was a sign that they hadn't progressed very far into the disease's cycle yet. Once Wither cured them, their labored breathing eased up.

Voltina edged forward and called ever so softly, "Mom? Dad?"

Slowly, both dragons opened their eyes and gave their daughter licks on her cheeks. The mother said, "Don't worry sweetie. We'll be alright. We just need to recuperate." She closed her eyes and curled closer to her husband for warmth.

Fresh tears welled up at the corners of Voltina's eyes as she stared down thankfully at her parents. Suddenly, she whirled around to face Wither. Before he had time to react, she threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around him. She buried her head in his neck and stated bawling, letting her hot tears roll down his back. Wither stood rooted on the spot for a moment, not sure what to do, but then he patted her on the back and extricated himself from her grasp.

Wiping the rest of her tears, Voltina said in a shaky voice, "Thank you, Wither. I don't know what I would have done without your help. My parents mean so much to me. If you ever need anything, let me know. I'm forever in your debt."

Renna sidled up next to Wither and said, "Yes, he was happy to help, but now we have to help the elders. Some of them are sick and need our help. Come on, Wither. Cyril's been infected the longest; he needs our help the most." She wrapped her tail around his leg and pulled him out of the room and away from the other dragoness.

Spyro and Cynder exchanged somewhat amused glances as Wither asked, "Hey, what are you doing? I can walk by myself." She didn't reply to his question, but he did hear her mumble something about electric dragonesses always getting in the way.

They journeyed to Cyril's house next and forced their way inside, bypassing his magical locks with the help of Spyro's power. When the door to his room was opened, they were met with a dreadful sight. Cyril was soaking in a sizable pool of his own blood, almost all of the color had drained out of his scales, and strange, bulbous pustules were starting to pop up in various places on his body. However, the odd sight among these things was the way the pool of blood was spreading. Rather than slowly growing outward from Cyril's seemingly lifeless body in an irregularly shaped splotch, the blood was beginning to coagulate and grow small tendrils that were snaking their way out of the edge of the pool from under Cyril. As the tendrils grew, the blood receded back toward Cyril, not leaving so much as a stain behind.

Renna had to look away to avoid being ill, and Spyro watched as the wiry blood branches began to root themselves in any little crack they could find in the stone, as though they were part of a new breed of plant. "What in the world?"

Cynder merely shook her head and said, "I don't know, and I don't want to know. Wither, I think you had better take away the corruption now. It's . . . consuming him."

Wither edged forward and tiptoed around the blood vines until he reached the stricken dragon's tail, which was now free of the blood pool since the blood was retreating in the direction of Cyril's head. He placed a paw on the Ice Master's tail and focused on the infection in his body. Instantly, the blood vines whipped up and flailed about frantically as the corruption was taken away. What happened next seemed beyond the realm of possibility. The vines liquefied again and flowed back into Cyril's nose, mouth, and even his ears. The welts all over his body also began to shrink away faster than anyone watching had thought. However, as they shrank back down into his body, one began to grow to nearly the size of a youngling.

"By the ancestors! What's happening?" cried Cynder.

Wither closed his eyes in concentration and yelled, "It's trying to survive or something! All of the Amophis is gathering in one spot! I can't stop it!"

Suddenly, the massive growth popped with a sickening, splashing sound. Where once, there was a disgusting pustule, there now stood a freakish creature half the size of Wither, watching it's assailants from Cyril's open wound. It had long tentacles protruding from nearly every conceivable part of its main body, which was nothing more than an amorphous blob. It had no eyes, but two of its tentacles were longer than the others and held outward like the feelers of an insect. Its body was solid, but appeared to be constantly melting and running down its surface to its base before absorbing into the creature again. The fact that it was crimson meant that it was probably made out of Cyril's blood, which repulsed Wither more than anything else ever had.

The creature's sudden appearance had shocked everyone to a standstill, giving it the opportunity to attempt a daring escape. Before anyone could react, it spit a gout of blood at the ceiling from a previously unseen orifice. The blood splashed on the ceiling and solidified, forming a web that adhered above the dragons. The creature zipped up to where the web had formed and from this new angle, shot another spurt of blood at the wall several feet above the window.

By now, Spyro had gotten over his shock and shouted, "Quick! Don't let it get away!" Unfortunately, it was too late. As he and Cynder rushed to grab it, the little horror detached from the ceiling and sailed out the window. It was so quick and agile that they instantly knew they couldn't catch it. By the time they could get outside it would already be long gone.

"What was that thing!?" shouted Wither after fighting back the bile that had risen in his throat.

Shaking his head, Spyro replied, "I have no idea, but it's an abomination. I have a feeling it's going to cause us a lot of trouble if we don't track it down and kill it."

Wither looked out the window and asked, "How are we going to do that? Warfang is huge. That thing could be anywhere by now. You saw how fast it was."

"I don't know, but we'll have to worry about it later. Right now we need to heal the rest of the infected before they go this far and create more of those monstrosities."

"That reminds me, how's Cyril?"

Cynder leaned over the Ice Master's motionless body and checked for a pulse. After a moment, she raised her head and shook it slowly, saying, "Not good. I don't see how he's still alive. That creature looked like it took most of his blood. There's barely anything left in him now. Someone needs to stay here and take care of him or he won't make it. It's questionable if he even will now."

Taking charge of the situation, Spyro pointed to Cynder and said, "You stay here and look after him. We'll keep taking care of the infected and keep an eye out for that . . . thing."

"Will do. Good luck. And Spyro?"

"Hmm?"

Cynder bumped noses with her husband and whispered, "Be careful. All of you," she added, turning to Wither and Renna. They all nodded and left Cynder to care for Cyril's devastated form.

Their next stop was Hexus's house since he was likely infected at the same time as Cyril, and thus, in the same condition. When they reached his home and got to the door of his room they burst inside, rushing to aid him. Oddly enough, Hexus appeared fine. He was sleeping peacefully in the middle of the room.

"Hexus?" Spyro called, stepping forward. The Poison Master's eyelids slid open and he stared at the intruders with the most terrifying eyes any had ever seen. They topped even Malefor's in terms of frightfulness. His once dark evergreen irises were now bright crimson. The whites had turned a sickly yellow and each eye now had three pupils of varying size and shape, which distorted the pattern of the irises. Renna gasped in surprise when she beheld the daunting eyes and found herself in a fighting stance for some reason. The pupils in Hexus's eyes twitched in different directions so as to take in Spyro, Wither, and Renna all at once.

He opened his mouth to speak, but a light whisper that didn't belong to him trailed behind each of his words, quietly echoing each syllable. "You have come to cure me?"

Wither eyed him uneasily and said, "Yes, that's the plan."

"Not to worry, young dragon. The new strain has adapted to me and bonded with my body, rather than trying to destroy me. I'm stronger than ever thanks to the unique symbiosis." To prove his point, he said this as he walked up the wall and across the ceiling, stopping in the middle of it, just above where he was standing before. His claws effortlessly pierced the thick stone, digging in and allowing Hexus to keep his footing while his abnormally strong body kept him level as though he were walking on the ground. The creepiest thing about the display was that no matter what angle he was angle he was facing and no matter which direction he walked in, he was able to bend his neck in impossible ways, keeping his gaze focused on Wither.

Spyro stared up at Hexus and said, "These new abilities look interesting, but there's no telling what other effects the corruption could have on you, and besides, you're extremely contagious. You could infect others simply by being around them. You need to let Wither nullify the disease inside you."

Hexus sighed and let go of the ceiling, doing a flip in the air to land on his feet. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that. You see, I was going to tell you that you should help me _spread_ the new strain. Everyone should get a chance to experience the power it grants you."

"Hexus . . . what are you saying?"

"I'm asking you to join us, Spyro."

Spyro backed up a step and changed his tone from one of concern to one of suspicion. "What do you mean _us_?"

Hexus paused and appeared to think for a moment before saying, "The new strain was an accident, I think. It's a mutation of the original that was only meant to kill. The outbreak was an accident, too. Pestilence didn't mean to infect the whole city. He only wished to remove Valorie from his path in his search for Zar. However, his training is incomplete, and he misjudged the virulence of the strain he released on us. I don't think he is fully aware of my existence, but I can feel him, his thoughts, his memories, his hopes and dreams. Join us Spyro. Join us and become more than you are. You're all welcome to join us."

Spyro couldn't believe what he was hearing. This was clearly the corruption's doing. Hexus would never act this way unless he was being made to. Spyro turned to Wither and said, "Drain the infection out of him."

Hexus suddenly sprang at Wither, knowing he was the only one that could cure him. He moved at speeds that rivaled Elleca's, appearing as nothing more than a blur before Spyro slammed into him from the side and pinned him to the floor. "Now, Wither!"

He didn't need to be told twice. Wither focused on Hexus and began to draw out the infection that controlled him. Hexus shrieked like a feral beast that was dying, and threw Spyro off of him with his enhanced strength before it left him. He charged at Wither, but was met with a sunbeam from Renna, which blasted him with enough strength to cancel out his momentum and hold him in place while Wither drained off the last of the corruption. At last, Hexus fell to the floor, unconscious.

Spyro edged closer to him and gingerly lifted an eyelid. Hexus's evergreen eyes stared back with one pupil each. He was out cold, but he was back to normal. Once he saw this, Wither took a deep breath and let it out slowly to calm himself down. "Thanks for helping me dad. You too, Renna."

"Any time," replied the shaken dragoness with a quick nod.

Spyro sat down and rub his back where he had been flung into the wall. "Yeah, that was quite an ordeal. I wasn't expecting the disease to take a turn like that. Oh well, we mustn't dwell on it. There are still many others to see to. Let's try Volteer's house next."

Wither and Renna followed him outside and down the street to Volteer's house. When they got inside they readied themselves for anything and opened the door. To their dismay, they found that he, too, was corrupted by the so called 'new strain.' He faced them and bared his fangs, growling. "You'll not take me like my brother. I saw what you did to him through his eyes. Know that I will fight you to the bitter end." The Lightning Master then held up his recently shortened leg, revealing the stump to them.

"The old strain and the new strain work quite well together. Would you like to see what such a union is capable of?" He then raised his good paw and drew across the scar tissue, opening the wound. Blood seeped out of the gash, but instead of dripping to the floor, it formed strands that twisted and tangled around one another, growing and building until Volteer's missing paw was completely grown back. He flexed and stretched the new digits to make sure they worked properly. Once he was satisfied with his new appendage, he gave his visitors a sinister grin and gazed hungrily at them with his crazed eyes.

Spyro looked at his son out of the corner of his eye. "Same as before?"

"That may not work. He says he saw the whole thing. This new strain must connect those infected with it somehow, like a . . . hive mind." Wither thought back to Yarrow as he was struck by the concept. Renna saw what he was thinking and nudged him in the side, reminding him of the situation. He smiled bitterly at her and turned back to face Volteer.

The infected dragon smiled again and replied, "Yes. You're exactly right my young friend. It's quite interesting really. Much like what Yarrow gave us, but still different in its own way. Why don't you see for yourself?" Volteer opened his maw and shot a fountain of blood at Wither.

The projectile liquid only had time to fly halfway across the distance between them before Renna used a solar flare to vaporize the stream in midair. However, since solar flares were powerful attacks, it tore through Volteer's left wing and incinerated the base, causing the wing to fall off.

Spyro stared down at the wing in dismay and shouted, "Renna! Be careful! It's still Volteer in there!"

"Oh no! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it! I'm so sorry! I-I- oh. . ." Renna hung her head at the thought of blowing one of Volteer's wings off, and almost started to cry, but she didn't have time to worry about disfiguring the Lightning Master for long. Tendrils poured out of Volteer's wound and attached to his severed wing, dragging it back into place and mending the damaged tissue to fuse it back in place.

Volteer chuckled and said, "Have no fear, youngling. You'll have to do better than that if you want to bring me down."

"How's this?" asked Wither as he focused on the corruption inside Volteer.

The Lightning Master let out the same terrifying shriek Hexus had when the corruption inside was attacked. He lunged at Wither in an effort to stop him, but Spyro separated Volteer from the rest of them with a giant rock wall, commanding it to burst out of the ground to bisect the entire room. Volteer scrabbled at the stone barrier, though it was a good three feet thick. Despite the seemingly impregnable barrier's strength, Volteer was actually able to tear away massive chucks of it, betraying the hidden well of power that the disease endowed those infected. Fortunately, Wither was able to drain away too much of the corruption for him to continue ripping the wall apart. Volteer barely got his head through a hole he made in his desperate attempt to hold on to his disease before the last of it was sucked into Wither.

When the Lightning Master finally fell limp, Spyro asked, "Are you done?"

Wither nodded and Spyro freed Volteer from the hole in the wall before lowering the construct and melding it back into the ground. The Purple Dragon stepped forward and inspected Volteer's paw and his wing. "Incredible! His wing is completely healed! And his paw has grown back. I've never seen anything like this before, nor did I know such power even existed. At least the corruption helped Volteer get his paw back."

Renna sat down and said, "I wonder how many are infected by this new strain? Hopefully Hexus and Volteer were the only two, but that doesn't seem likely."

"I don't know, Renna," replied Spyro thoughtfully. "The new strain must have manifested itself in Hexus first as a spinoff of the original, but Volteer appeared to be infected by both strains like some sort of hybrid."

Comprehension suddenly dawned on Renna and she asked, "So what you're saying is, Volteer could have had the old strain first and spread it around _before_ picking up the new strain from Hexus?"

"It's a possibility that I very much hope to be the truth."

"Well, I guess we'll see, won't we?" said Wither in a matter of fact tone.

They left Volteer to recover on his own and walked outside. Once out in the morning air again, they stopped for a quick rest so as to enjoy the warmth of the still rising sun. After only a couple of seconds, they were hailed by a cheetah that was running toward them down one of the adjacent alleys. When he got closer, they saw that it was Wylee. He looked troubled, and Wither guessed that the infection had spread to the cheetahs, too.

Sure enough, when Wylee caught up to them, he stopped conveyed his message to them, remaining as calm as he could. "My people . . . there's something . . . wrong."

"They're sick, aren't they?" asked Wither knowingly.

"Yes, how did you know?"

Spyro leaned down and replied, "There's an infection spreading throughout the city. What are their symptoms?"

Straightening himself, Wylee continued. "They're all just lying around, unable to move. I checked my dad, and he has a bad fever, but he shivers as though he's caught a chill."

Spyro looked at Wither and said, "It's the old strain. Quickly, we need to get to the barracks."

Wylee lead the group of dragons down several streets toward the barracks. As they passed between the towering buildings, Wylee asked, "What caused all of this anyway?"

"Amophis," was Wither's simple reply.

"Amophis?" asked Wylee in surprise. "You mean that energy from the Void that Malefor and his disciples use?"

"Yes, Pestilence, or Xath, I should say, uses Amophis to power his special abilities. This disease is just Amophis that can mimic some sort of lethal contagion."

Wylee looked skyward at the thought and rubbed his chin. "Pathological energy? That sounds dangerous . . . and impossible. How can energy . . . infect living beings and multiply?"

Wither shrugged his shoulders and replied, "The Void doesn't exactly adhere to the laws of reality. I wouldn't think into it too much. You'll probably just end up hurting yourself."

Giving Wither a thin smile, Wylee replied, "Be that as it may, I love a good puzzler, and this is quite a quandary. There's a certain fun in trying to figure out things like this."

"If you say so," laughed Wither.

Along their way to the barracks, several dragons roaming the streets in search of help for their stricken family members asked the group to save their loved ones, but they were simply told that they would have to wait. Everyone they encountered followed them to make sure they were noticed when Wither was done with the cheetahs, but he held his eyes forward as they neared the building that housed all of the cheetahs. Spyro turned around to inform the group that had formed behind them that they would have to wait outside while Wither cured those within.

When they entered the building they were met by four rows of afflicted cheetahs lying on cots. Wither walked down an aisle between two rows on one side and reached out with his mind, curing them as he went, draining the disease out of their bodies and leaving them healthy by the time he passed them. Once he reached the other end of the building, he sat down to rest. "Are you okay," asked Renna with concern when she saw that he was starting to feel tired.

"Yeah, it just takes a lot of concentration to heal that many beings at once and without physical contact."

"Just give him a few minutes," said Spyro. Turning to his son he said, "It's a good thing you doesn't need crystals, seeing as you're your own battery. That will serve you well in the long run, but you tire just like the rest of us. Even if it's because you're gaining energy."

Wylee looked back toward the healed cheetahs, relief apparent on his tired face. It was only morning, but he already looked like he had been through an entire day. Still, he glanced at the other half of the room that had yet to feel Wither's healing touch. "Wither, I'm thankful for your help, but how long until you think you can help the others? You see . . . my dad's on the other side of the room, and I don't want him suffering any longer than necessary."

Wither stood and swept between the two remaining rows of infected, but stopped halfway and sat down again. Spyro placed a paw on his shoulder and was surprised to feel his son shaking a bit. "Wither, you have to pace yourself. Don't try to take on too much at once, or you'll burn yourself out."

"I have to help them. I'm the only one who can."

"You won't be helping them by nullifying too much at once."

"I have their infection inside me. I just need to drain it off. Once I have more emptiness I can help more people. They all need to be saved at some point. I might as well do it as soon as I have the ability."

Wither got up and Spyro let his paw fall off of Wither's shoulder as the youngling made his way further down the aisle before stopping again. By now there were only a few more to go, but Wither was starting to feel ill. Renna saw the look on his face and asked, "You're not getting sick, are you?"

He took a deep breath to calm his stomach and said, "It's like the green crystals all over again. This Amophis . . . it's filling me up faster than I thought it would." He healed a few more cheetahs and stopped at the end of the row with one last soul to save. Wylee stared down at his father trying to hide the anxious look on his face. He sat down on the empty cot beside Hunter's, which Wither assumed was Wylee's. The already exhausted dragon watched his friend stare down at the ground between his feet, leaning forward and resting his arms on his legs. He was tapping one of his feet at the heel, causing his leg to bounce up and down nervously.

Though Wylee cared for all of his people, he secretly wished that Wither had started with his dad, but didn't say anything, knowing that it wouldn't help. While Wither lay on the floor, recovering from overexerting himself, Wylee patiently waited by his father's side.

"Oh . . ."

Wylee looked up and saw his father toss and turn on his bed.

"Uh . . ."

Wylee grasped his father's hand and said, "It's okay dad. Wither's here. He's going to take away the disease inside you."

Spyro placed a paw on Hunter's forehead and noticed that he was soaked in sweat. "He's burning up. He might be hallucinating."

"Honey . . ."

Wylee raised an eyebrow at his father's odd request and said, "I think you're right. His brain is frying. Can you help him?"

"Honey . . . Wylee . . . said his first words today . . ."

Spyro was about to alleviate Hunter's suffering by cooling him down with a light, icy breeze, but Wylee placed his palm over his snout. His eyes were wide and expectant as he stared down at his father, waiting for the hallucinations to wring more out of Hunter.

"He asked . . . 'Where's mommy?'"

Wylee grasped his father's cot with both hands and leaned forward, willing more from Hunter.

"I told him . . . that you were out . . . fathering ingredients . . . for your . . . uh . . ."

"No no no no, keep going, keep going," hissed Wylee.

Hunter rolled around on the cot again and the expression on his face became troubled. In his agitated state, he found the strength to speak in more connected sentences. "You don't understand. He's better off out here. They wouldn't accept him. . . I already told you why. . . I don't make the rules. That's just how things are."

Everyone looked at Wylee and saw the shocked look in his eyes turn to one of confusion as Hunter began to reveal snippets of secrets that had remained long hidden. "They just wouldn't understand. . . I know it's not fair. . . Well, I'll tell him someday. You leave that to me. . . I know you want him to have friends, but even you have to admit he's different. They would view him as a crime against nature. . . I know he doesn't _look_ different, but we wouldn't be able to hide it."

Wylee let go of the cot and straightened up in horror, looking at his hands as his father continued to relive the past in his fevered dreams. Quietly, he whispered, "What am I?"

Hunter tossed around again, and the scene in his head changed yet again. Tears feel out of the corners of his eyes and ran down his face. He started breathing heavily and thrashing around on his bed. "No . . . no. . . Why? Why, my love? Why did you leave me!?"

As Hunter was reduced to tears, Wylee lost what little hold he had left on his own emotions. He fell forward, sobbing into his father's chest as Hunter quieted down and solemnly whimpered, "Don't worry. Daddy's got you." Hunter wrapped his arms around his crying son in his delirium. "Daddy's going to make it all better. We'll find a new home, one with friends for you. Mommy always said you needed friends. We won't ever have to tell them about your secret. I'll take care of you, Wylee."

Wither stepped forward and looked back and forth between father and son. They just cried together, each for their own reasons. He placed a paw on Hunter's head and nullified the infection, causing him to stop crying as his fever broke and released him from his tormenting visions of the past. After a few moments, Wylee got up and pulled the top of his shirt over his eyes to dry them before saying, "Thank you, Wither."

Wither nodded and asked, "Are you alright?"

Wylee pulled his lips in and nodded since no more words could find their way out of his mouth. Spyro gave him a sympathetic smile and said, "We need to go now. If you need anything else, we'll be going around the city, helping the infected. Goodbye."

Spyro turned away and opened the door, letting Wither and Renna through. Wither was looking at Renna and saying, "Wow, that was a lot of drama. I bet those two will have a lot to talk about later."

Renna shook her head almost angrily and said, "It sounds to me like Hunter has a lot to answer for. Did you hear what his words were implying? Wylee probably doesn't even know what to think of himself now."

Wither started to comment on her thoughts, but stopped in his tracks at the sight that laid before him. Renna saw the look on his face and turned away from him. She instantly felt sorry for him and brushed her tail over his, saying, "Oh, Wither. . . I'm so sorry."

A crowd had gathered outside the door to the barracks and formed a semicircle around the exit, waiting for Wither to come out. Word had been spread that he could cure the infected with his unique power and now there were at least thirty dragons that swarmed him as he stepped out of the barracks, all fighting to be heard over one another. Spyro pulled Renna and his son close to him to protect them from the onslaught of anxious dragons seeking an audience with Wither. The Purple Dragon scanned the crowd and looked down at his son saying, "I don't envy you right now."

Dread gripped Wither as he thought of healing all of the infected that these people knew. Surely there was more than one victim for each dragon who stood watching him. He had thought that today would be a long one, but he hadn't thought of the rest of the city while going from house to house, curing his friends and some of the elders. Then Wylee had come to him, requesting aid for the cheetahs, and Wither focused on the next task, but now that he was done with his initial list of people to save and faced with all these dragons, he balked at the prospect of having to save all their relatives. He was already tired from the effort he had put into saving those he had and wasn't sure if he would be able to cure everyone that was infected, but he knew he had to try.

Spyro got the crowd under control and organized them so that they could make their way to the nearest dwellings first. The morning wore on, and Wither cured everyone one house at a time. After a while, his father had to start carrying him to their next destinations so that he could conserve his strength for when they got there. It didn't help Wither's morale that during trips to new houses, more dragons looking for help would join the group.

Renna did her best to make him feel better by talking to him and telling him how great he was doing, but even hearing these things from Renna was only doing so much for him. As his father carried him, Wither looked around and noticed the other dragons watching him. They saw how much he was pushing himself to cure everyone, and he could tell that they respected him for it, but those still on the waiting list couldn't help but wonder if he would reach his limit before he got to their families.

None of the other infected had come down with the mysterious new strain much to the relief of the trio that had already experienced a bout with two such twisted creatures. Everyone appeared to be infected with the old strain, which was horrifying enough in its own way when it was in the late stages of the cycle, but luckily, everyone was newly infected and hadn't gone nearly as far as Cyril had. However, the three dragons knew that that wouldn't last forever. They had to hurry and cure as many dragons as they could, as quickly as they could to prevent any deaths and to help break the chain and prevent any more from becoming infected.

Along the way, Cynder rejoined them and informed them that Cyril was badly hurt, but stable. She had bandaged him up and ordered the older dragon to stay put and rest while she toured the city with the others. Concern crossed her face when she saw her son's condition, but Wither assured her that he was only tired from helping so many people. The trio had held back before because they didn't want to cause a panic, but now they felt a need to catch Cynder up on all that she had missed. This involved the telling of the story about the new strain. As expected, the other dragons forming the group listened to the tale in horrified silence before they broke it with concerned shouts of worry that the new strain would turn their minds and make them all lose themselves, but Spyro quickly told them to settle down and informed them of his belief that they had stopped the chain of the new strain before it could grow out of control.

His urging calmed their nerves and eased their worries, but Cynder still looked troubled by the news. The description of their behavior reminded her of the days of her past when she had been corrupted by Malefor's darkness. This clearly wasn't the same thing, but it sounded disturbingly similar. The sudden boost of strength and speed, the addition of new powers, the altering of one's mind to spread pain and suffering, this was almost exactly like the curse Malefor had put on her at birth. The only difference was that this time, the effects were contagious. She desperately hoped that Spyro was right about eradicating the new strain. _No one should ever have to feel the pain that I suffered under Malefor's control._ She still had nightmares and blurry memories of laughing in delight as she killed families and burned villages in the name of her Dark Master who pulled the strings that controlled her like a puppet.

It hadn't been easy to gain everyone's trust either. When she and Spyro had returned from their fight with Malefor, she was met with an unexpected animosity from the citizens of Warfang. They hadn't recognized her during all of the excitement, but when the guardians identified their saviors as Spyro and Cynder the crowd who had come to welcome them back realized that she was the former Terror of the Skies that had slain so many of their loved ones without a second thought. Even with a testimony from the guardians who insisted upon her innocence, the crowd had become hostile and advanced on the Black Dragon, whose crimes had still gone unanswered.

The only thing that saved her was Spyro, who shielded her from the vehemence of the crowd and proclaimed his love for her to everyone. They backed off after that, but some could still be heard claiming that the Terror of the Skies had seduced their hero and would corrupt him in time, and still others called her a succubus. It had taken years of hard work on the Council of Elders to prove her worth to the last of the citizens that had held on to their bitterness, but miraculously, everyone came around, and now she was almost as respected as Spyro.

The sun was getting higher in the sky, the golden orb almost touching the point that marked noon, but still the crowd moved through the streets, not stopping for lunch. Spyro told Wither that he needed to eat and gain some strength, but Wither claimed that there was no time and merely prodded his father in the back where he lay, urging him on to their next destination. After a quick conversation, Spyro and Cynder decided that they would keep going while she went off get something for Wither to eat.

Cynder left the group once more, and they made their way to their next stop. There were still quite a few more dragons who needed help, but Wither was starting to feel like he was making a difference. The crowd was beginning to shrink, less and less of the city's citizens joined them during their rounds, and the feel of Amophis all around him was beginning to weaken as well.

However, just as they were about to pass by an alley, a lone figure within quickly scrambled out of sight, moving with unsettling agility so as to remain unseen. It was watching them, following them, making its way from shadow to shadow, gathering strength and waiting for the perfect time to make its move.


	20. Chapter 19 Go Forth

Chapter 19- Go Forth

A dark rift opened in the middle of the blistering cavern, spitting out five figures, each exhausted from the titanic effort they had exerted. Only the largest among them was conscious. It dropped the limp figure he was holding on to and turned to face the other three. After several seconds of preparation, it lifted a paw and allowed a massive surge of energy to pour into each of them.

They all awoke with a start, jumping to their feet and attempting to summon enough Amophis to ward off an expected attack. However, when no threat was imminent and no Amophis came to their call, they all relaxed and looked around in a daze. It was dark, too dark to see, but after another moment of rest, the largest being among them lifted its paw and brought light into the cavern by illuminating hundreds of crystal deposits scattered haphazardly throughout the rough stone walls that surrounded them on all sides. The room they found themselves in was a good half mile across, with four gaping tunnels leading off into other parts of the underground lair.

The massive purple dragon that towered above the others turned to them and rumbled, "It's alright boys. We made it home."

War stepped forward and kneeled before the giant, bowing his head and saying, "Master Malefor. We failed you. I am sorry."

Malefor waved a disinterested paw at him and replied, "Think nothing of it. There's no way any of you could have defeated Yarrow at the height of his power. You are strong, yes, but not strong enough to best an ancient. His Ranvacoya was more than a match for the likes of you, even in Amophis Armor.

"Speaking of which, my greatest disappointment is that it was destroyed. It's not easy to make that armor. It takes lots of time and focus. Its destruction will set us back several days until I can forge new sets for you. At least I made Zar's in advance."

War rose to his feet, confident that his master was not displeased with his performance. "There is also the matter of Pestilence. . . Spyro used a strange kind of magic on him that I've never seen before."

Malefor glanced at Pestilence, seeing that he was half frozen in stone and let out a tired sigh. "That will have to wait. Wither has drained me of nearly all my power, and reversing another purple dragon's petrification is . . . difficult. It will be a quick fix, but turning your stone parts back into flesh, blood, and bone will consume a quantity of energy you cannot fathom.

"I am tired. I must rest now. Do not disturb me until tomorrow. Take Zar to one of the empty rooms." With that, the Dark Master turned and made his way down the northbound tunnel.

As he walked away, War took charge. "Alright, Famine, you help Pestilence to his room, and for the love of the ancestors, don't break anything off of him. I'll take Zar to his room."

War instinctively raised a paw at Zar's body, but quickly realized that he would have to move him the hard way without his armor. "Ugh, this sucks. It's a good thing Zar's thin."

Famine scrunched his face up in thought as though he wished to say something. Seeing this, War stopped and looked at him with a bored expression. "What is it, Famine? Come on. Think, think, think, think."

Famine lifted a paw to shush War and said in his thick, slow voice, "That's not helping."

War let out an exasperated sigh and muttered under his breath, "Brainless oaf."

After several agonizing seconds, Famine asked, "Why can't we just call each other by our real names when Master Malefor's not around? It feels kinda stupid."

War dragged a paw down his face and replied, "First of all, you're not one to talk about stupid. Secondly, Malefor wants us to identify ourselves as the bringers of the Apocalypse so that the Amophis knows who we're trying to be. Remember, the more we feel like them, the more powerful we become. We have to make ourselves believe we are the Fearsome Four. Calling ourselves by their names will reinforce the idea that we really are them and then we'll become them. Master Malefor explained all of this to us. Weren't you listening? Just . . . just take Pestilence back to his room."

"Okay." A loud, grating noise sounded as Famine grabbed Pestilence and dragged him toward one of the tunnels. The lumbering dolt ignored his friend's jumbled shouts of protest through his half frozen muzzle.

War chose not to care about the issue and focused on maneuvering Zar onto his back so he could carry the ice dragon toward another one of the tunnels. "Ugh, yeah, you're thin, but you're also a dead weight. What are you unconscious for anyway? You didn't have a three hundred foot tall monster pound you into the ground. Is being disconnected from a hive mind so traumatic that you have to sleep it off?"

War grumbled all the way to the tunnel, stopping every now and then to reposition Zar and keep him from sliding off. When they finally arrived at the tunnel, he walked to the nearest empty room and knelt down, allowing Zar to roll off his back and fall to the floor with a small thump. "There we go. See you later man. I'm off."

War walked back through the hallways. The structure of the caves looked only half done, and none of the halls were exactly straight, but that was due to the fact that they had set up residence in the empty magma vents inside the volcano they now called home. Evenly dispersed crystals plunged into the walls lit the way back to the central cavern known as the Pit. For whatever reason, Malefor had decided to name their base Mount Genesis. Though he had hadn't explained his reasoning for this, War believed it had something to do with the massive purple gem that hung suspended several hundred feet above them in midair.

Every time a new recruit was added to their ranks, they would always stare up at the treasure in wonder. Questions were often asked about it, but Malefor would not provide many answers. All he would reveal about the crystal was that it was an ancient relic that stood as a monument to the dragon race.

As he passed under the gem, War could hear a light whispering inside his head, "_Arragor . . . Arragor . . ._"

He stopped and glared up at the titanic crystal as the ancestors attempted to contact him through it. Though Malefor had not been willing to reveal much about it, he hadn't discouraged any of his disciples from learning anything about it. In the short time War had lived under Mount Genesis, he had learned that whatever kind of crystal hovered above them, it somehow acted as a doorway between their world and the world of the ancestors. Malefor had set up wards around the gem to prevent it from exerting its influence, but in his weakened state, those wards had dissolved. Now the gem reached out to anyone near, weaving vague and distorted images of the past and the future.

Arragor shook his head to clear it of the intrusion and growled, "That's not my name anymore. That's not who I am."

"_Arragor . . . Arragor . . ._"

Ignoring the soft utterings of those on the other side, Arragor stomped to the tunnel where Pestilence had claimed a room. When he got there, Famine was just leaving his room. War stopped outside and asked, "Is he okay?"

"I didn't break nothing," was the larger dragon's reply.

"Good. What are you going to go do now?"

Famine thought the question over for a slightly inappropriate amount of time before answering, "I guess I'll try to go talk to the big crystal for a while."

War scoffed at the idea and asked with a snort, "Why? You spend too much time around that thing. Malefor warned us not to take anything it says into consideration. It's probably not healthy to talk to it for so long. I honestly don't know why you spend so much time talking to it."

Famine grinned and said, "It's cool. I like it. It always has something neat to say."

War waved a paw at him and replied, "Whatever. I'm going to talk to Pestilence. He'll want some company. Have fun."

War entered the room and sat down next on the rough stone next to Pestilence. "Hey, how's it going?"

"Iss's hucking hancassic."

War let out a laugh and slapped the floor before saying, "Wow, you _must_ be pissed. I would be too if I got the same treatment as you. Too bad you can't talk right. I don't know if I'll be able to understand you too well."

Pestilence ignored War's comment and replied, "Dis hurcks. A wock."

War nodded in understanding and said, "Don't worry man. Malefor says he'll fix it. Just try to sleep the rest of the day away. You won't feel any pain in your sleep, right?"

"I'n nock kired."

"Well, you never get tired, but you still sleep every night anyway. Just close your eyes, err, eye, and try not to think about anything, 'cause you're staying like this until Malefor feels up to the task of restoring you to normal. Well, I'm going back to my room. I just wanted to make sure Famine didn't break you. Remember, sleep equals no pain. Try it."

War walked back down the tunnel and across the pit, glancing at Famine who lay on his back on the floor in the middle of the room, staring up at the crystal. War shook his head and walked back to his room without another backward glance.

Famine cocked his head to the side and said, "I don't know . . ."

"_Trust us. . . You are but a pawn. . . Don't let Malefor rule you, Obsidius. . . There is still time to turn back. . ._"

"Arragor, uh, I mean, War says Malefor promises us power and, uh, a place in the new world."

"_If you follow this path . . . the world will not be the world . . . your heart will not be your heart . . . and your friends will not be your friends . . . just as Malefor is not Malefor._"

"I don't get it."

"_Remember . . . the Terror of the Skies. . . Cynder was not Cynder . . . but she was still Cynder. . ._"

"I don't think that makes sense," replied Famine in confusion.

"_Though Cynder was not Cynder . . . but still Cynder . . . you will not be you . . . and your friends will not be your friends . . . yet you will still not be you . . . and your friends will still not be your friends. . ._"

"I still don't get it."

"_You will lose . . . all that you know. . . Your current path . . . disintegrates . . . unto another's._"

"That sounds bad."

"_Such is the way of things . . . as they are. . . Remember . . . you . . . are not . . . Famine . . . yet._"

The crystal fell silent, ending its conversation with Famine. He rose to his feet, pondering the crystal's words with his tiny mind as he trudged back to his room.

The next day, Malefor dedicated himself to the task of creating replacement armor for his first three disciples. It was an undertaking that took that better part of the day, and by the time he was finished, he was mentally exhausted from the tedious work.

His voice reverberated off the walls, ringing out from all of the crystal deposits in the volcano. "All done with your armor everyone. Come and get it."

When War reached the pit, Famine was already slipping into the gauntlets. He found his set and started putting it on as well, relishing the feeling of Amophis washing through him once again. Looking around, he noticed that Pestilence had yet to arrive, and Zar still hadn't woken from the battle yesterday. He turned to Malefor and said, "Thank you for the armor. We'll treat this set with more care."

Malefor rubbed his eyes and rumbled, "Never you mind about the last set. I've already told you that was no fault of yours."

Nodding, War asked, "Why hasn't Zar woken up yet? It's been over twenty-four hours since he passed out."

As Malefor watched Famine place the helmet over his head, he sighed and said, "Being connected to a host that can rally the minds of hundreds into a single consciousness and then being violently expelled from that collective can have serious repercussions. If our new recruit to be has yet to awaken, I have to assume that Yarrow thrust Zar's conscious mind deep into his subconscious just before his defeat. Zar could be trapped in his own inner labyrinth. I suppose I could attempt to go in after him, but the mind is a terribly complex structure. One belonging to a being even as young as Zar could still be incredibly dangerous to traverse . . . for the both of us.

"I'm too tired to attempt such a thing today, and tomorrow I must conserve my strength to heal Pestilence. If Zar hasn't woken up on his own by then, I'll go in after him the day after tomorrow." With that, Malefor left them alone.

War grabbed a few pieces of Pestilence's armor and told Famine to take the rest. They delivered it to his room and told him that he would be healed tomorrow once Malefor was feeling up to the task.

The day after, War milled about in his room, testing out his new armor to get a feel for it once more. Famine lay in the center of the Pit and spoke to the crystal, though it refused to speak to him anymore. Pestilence attempted to sleep the day away, but ended up rolling about in misery all day long, unable to tolerate the pain of being part stone for several days in a row.

Finally, toward the end of the day, the time came when Malefor entered Pestilence's room. He leaned down and inspected the young dragon to see which parts he would need to focus on. Then he straightened up and placed a claw on one of his frozen joints and began to trace it around the stone. A single spark of purple light twinkled where the Dark Master's claw touched the stone. When he moved on to other parts of Pestilence's body, the light faded away to reveal yellow scales that glistened with life once more. The whole process took no more than a minute, but by the time the job was done, Malefor was exhausted yet again. "There. Now that that's done, you can put your armor back on. See you tomorrow, and be more careful next time you're fighting Spyro or Cynder. They both have the power to defeat you. Together, they would destroy you with ease."

Malefor walked back to the Pit and passed under the crystal that watched him from above. Glaring up at the floating gem, he mustered the last of his strength to reestablish the protective wards. Just before the crystal was wrapped in his power, a voice whispered, "_Soon._"

Smirking at the massive, glittering gem, Malefor replied, "Soon, the world will lay before my feet."

Before making his way down his tunnel, Malefor noticed Famine walking toward the Pit from his tunnel. He watched as his Second Disciple smiled and waved at him before plopping down and rolling over on his back to stare up at the crystal. "I've been really bored lately. Master Malefor has been too busy with important work to send me and my friends on a mission for the past few days. None of us have anything to do in this volcano. It's just an empty volcano. We could spar with one another, but we don't want to damage the new armor Master Malefor just finished making for us, and sparring without the armor seems pointless. Why won't you talk to me anymore? I'm so bored."

Malefor called out, "Famine, I hope you haven't been making a habit out of talking to that thing. It has nothing to say that those like us want to hear. Those speaking through it would see the world remain just as it is and will do or say anything in their power to make it so. I've placed my wards around it again, so it can't speak to you anymore even if it wanted to. Now go to bed. I have an important mission for all of you tomorrow."

Famine rolled to his feet and gave Malefor a big, dopey grin. "Gee, thanks Master Malefor. I was just telling the crystal up there that I was bored and had nothing to do. It'll be nice to leave Mount Genesis for a while. Good night." Malefor watched Famine leave the Pit. Once the youngling was gone, Malefor turned and made his way back down his own tunnel.

As everyone awoke the next day, they became aware of a strange feeling in the air. Malefor was using Amophis to perform a task somewhere in the volcano. War got up and walked down the hall to where Zar's body had been resting for the past few days. Upon reaching the threshold, he saw that Malefor was leaned over the ice dragon. The Dark Master had his eyes closed. As he looked closer, War could see that they were moving around under his lids, as though he was searching for something.

After several long seconds, Malefor opened his eyes and turned around. "Ah, War. Excellent timing. I've just finished up with your friend here. Turns out I was right. He was hopelessly lost in the depths of his mind. Luckily, he wasn't so far in that I got lost looking for him. I was able to guide him to the gate of his subconscious. He should be waking up shortly. Be here for him when he wakes up, will you? I have to make the final preparations for his induction. When he wakes, take him to the Pit."

Bowing his head, War replied, "Yes, Master Malefor."

Not two minutes after Malefor left the room, Zar's eyes flickered open and a groan escaped his parched throat. "Ugh, what? Arragor? What am I doing here? And why is it so darn hot?"

War smiled at his friend and said, "Please, call me War."

"Why?"

"Because that's my name now. Come on, I'll bet you're thirsty. There's an underground spring with surprisingly cool water."

Zar got up and brushed himself off before stumbling. "Ah, why am I so sore?"

Helping Zar to his feet, War replied, "You've been asleep for about, mmm . . . three days? Yeah, that sounds about right."

Zar stopped and sat back down, rubbing his head. Everything still felt fuzzy. "Three days? What happened? Wait, I think I remember now."

All of Zar's memories came swirling back as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. The elders had come to his house and taken over the place like it was theirs. They had claimed it was to protect him, but then they had just kicked him out of the house and sent him before Yarrow. Then that old crone had. . .

Zar closed his eyes and images flashed through his mind. He was back in that dome, all sunlight blocked out by the choking vines, standing before the ancient dragon that stood on an altar of unnaturally bent and shaped roots, half suspended by vines that hung down from the ceiling and wrapped around his body. Zar could feel the vines closing in around him as Yarrow told him that it was for his own good, that it was the best way to protect him. Then everything had opened up and he suddenly felt independent from his own body.

Others soon followed, and he felt himself floating in an endless sea of merging minds, all exerting their influence on each other, connecting to form one entity that almost had a mind of its own. And at the center of it all was the ancient dragon, pulling the strings and keeping everyone connected to form the beast, using their own collective power to do it. All of the others had given themselves to him willingly, but Yarrow had shielded the part of Zar's mind that that revealed his being coerced into the hive so that none would know. No one knew that Yarrow had taken him and forced him to join the hive.

All the power, it was glorious, acting as a giant lure, forcing him to want to stay, though Yarrow would not have allowed him to leave anyway. It felt like it was Zar's to wield, but of course it wasn't. The sense of control had only been an illusion. He could see that now. His memories of that time were corrupted by the connection with everyone in Warfang, but he could remember Yarrow speaking through him, making it seem as though he had been the one talking, and indeed he had been, but he was being made to speak, like a puppet. Yarrow had used him as a tool to try to trick his friends, and when that didn't work, he had used his energy along with everyone else's and forced him to attack his friends.

Then Malefor had come . . . Zar remembered now. Malefor had broken the ties connecting everyone and thus destroyed the hive, and in doing so, freed Zar from Yarrow's control. The shock of suddenly being cast out of the hive had knocked him unconscious and then . . . then he woke up here.

War poked Zar in the shoulder and asked, "Hey? Everything okay?"

Zar opened his eyes and allowed them to come into focus before turning to War and answering. "Yeah. Where's that water?"

Several minutes later, after being lead down a tunnel and into a room where water pooled up from below, Zar drank until he could no longer feel the inside of his throat. Once satisfied, War turned around and said, "Okay, now it's time to head to the Pit."

"That doesn't sound like a pleasant place to be," observed Zar, sounding as bored as ever.

War shrugged his shoulders and replied, "It is the heart of the volcano where we live. It connects all of the tunnels that riddle the earth beneath Mount Genesis."

As the two dragons entered the central chamber, Famine and Pestilence were already coming down their corridors, sensing that the moment they had been for since their return was upon them. Zar recognized them once they got closer and said, "Mmm, Xath, Obsidius, you're both alive."

"Uh, actually, uhm, you're supposed to call me Famine now."

"And I'm Pestilence," answered the electric youngling with a maniacal grin.

Zar blinked at him and replied, "You're a pest, nothing more."

Pestilence sneered at Zar and asked, "You think so? Perhaps I can show you just how much of a pest I can be."

War stepped between the two quarreling dragons and looked Pestilence in the eyes. "No. We need him."

Zar narrowed his eyes and studied Pestilence with his cold, calculating gaze. "You look . . . different. Something about you has changed."

"Yeah, just look at this cool armor. It makes us really powerful." Pestilence raised himself up so as to put on a show and flaunt his armor.

After a couple seconds of scrutiny, Zar shook his head. "No, that's not it. You seem . . . at ease. I've never seen you so still, Xath."

"I told you it's Pestilence, and that's because Master Malefor had granted me the ability to control myself."

Suddenly, footsteps could be heard padding down one of the tunnels leading off from the huge cavern. Everyone turned toward the sound and all but Zar gave a salute to the huge purple dragon that was making his way toward the small group. He smiled down at Zar and said in his twisted voice, "Ah, you're awake. You must be Zar. You're friends have told me so much about you."

Zar had a hard time keeping his composure in front of the Dark Master, but somehow he pulled it off. "You'd do well to ignore anything Xath . . . or Pestilence or whatever his name is, has to say about me. He's a fool who rarely thinks before he acts."

Pestilence's face gave an involuntary twitch of anger and he opened his mouth to shout a sharp retort, but was cut off by Malefor's deep, rumbling laughter. "I'm always telling him the same thing. Hmm, I think I'm going to like you. Tell me, Zar, are you familiar with the Legend of the Fearsome Four?"

"Oh yeah, is that what you guys are going for? You're short a dragon."

"We're well aware of that, but you must know that the tale is more than a mere story. It is a prophecy. One I believe the four of you can set in motion, provided that you take on the role of Death, Zar. So tell me, what do you think? Join us, and together we can remake the world the way we see fit. If you help us, you will be granted the title General Death and given your own private army to use however you see fit. Together, we will end this pathetic excuse of a world, and once we have our own, you will be given a position of great power. I'm sure you've seen the unique powers that your friends now wield. In addition to all these gifts, I will also grant you your own set of armor that will infuse you with your own special abilities that come with the title of Death. The armor also acts as an eternal power supply that can power your abilities and defend you from heavy damage so you don't have to."

The world. Malefor was basically handing him the world, or at least a fair share of it. Zar allowed a smile to creep across his face. The glint in his eyes was unmistakable. It was the spark of one with deep ambitions, and Malefor chuckled when he saw it. Zar bowed to the purple dragon and asked, "What is my first task, Master Malefor?"

Everyone was clearly pleased with this answer. War placed a paw on Zar's shoulder and said, "Welcome to the team, Death."

Malefor wagged a claw at him and said, "Ah ah ah. At least wait until he puts the armor on before you start calling him that. I assumed you would agree to join us, so I went ahead and made it in advance. Let me get it for you."

Malefor raised a paw and held it several feet above the floor in front of him. The igneous stone began to ripple like the surface of a pond after a pebble is thrown in, and the black crystal armor rose out of the rock and came to a halt several inches above the ground. When the floor returned to normal, Malefor gestured at the hovering battle equipment and said, "Go ahead. Put it on."

Zar didn't hesitate to slide the back plate on. Once it was in place, he felt power surge through his body. The feeling was unexpected and gave him a giddy sensation. A smile cracked his face, and he let out a solitary laugh. Malefor smiled again and said, "Yes, as you can see, it's already taking effect. If you like that, just wait until you have the whole set on."

Next came the gauntlets, first one then the other. Each one boosted his magical capabilities considerably. He could feel it. Now all that remained was the helmet. He took it carefully in both paws and gently placed it over his head. Once it was settled, an even greater rush of energy met him, and he felt something click in him, like he was only just now finally whole. He flexed his claws and walked around a bit to get a feel for the armor. Malefor asked, "So what do you think?"

Death looked up at the Dark Master and said, "I think I could get used to this. So what's next? I hope it involves moving somewhere colder. I'm an ice dragon, you know. This volcano is a little too steamy for me. Plus, I'd like to try out this new magic. What good is such power when there's no way to use it?"

Malefor chuckled again and replied, "Soon enough, General Death, soon enough. For now, it's time for some training. The power that now flows through your very being is called Amophis. It is nonexistent energy from the Void, the place that gives Wither his power. With your armor, you can call Amophis into this world and use it to your advantage. There are several basic perks that this will give you. For example, even as a youngling who has neither grown to a size that allows extended periods of flight nor experienced much if any training concerning the art of flying, you will now find it to be second nature. You can also use your powers as an ice dragon like a master with hundreds of years of experience. Your abilities as an ice dragon are also enhanced beyond what you could normally ever perform and will take almost very little magic to use.

"Now, moving on to the finer points of your armor. You can use the Amophis to perform several basic tasks that will aid you in many situations, including those outside of battle. The Amophis will protect you far more than the actual armor itself will. Though dark crystals are super dense and extremely difficult to damage, the power they call forth from the Void can be wrapped around you like an invisible shield, reducing the strength of blows sharply and preventing the kinetic energy of said blows from shifting to you. This will make you solid as a mountain, a nearly unwavering titan that will only budge for the greatest of strikes. Amophis is also centralized in the Void. This means that we can all speak to one another through the power of Amophis. You can speak to all of your friends and me through your armor.

"Okay, are you ready to hear what your unique abilities as Death are?" Zar nodded his head silently, waiting to hear more of the wonders he could now perform. "Very well."

A grublin suddenly shot out of the ground between Malefor and Death. Malefor pointed a claw at the ugly little creature and said, "You have powers over death itself now. Focus your power on this enemy."

The grublin stood fearlessly, its blind loyalty allowing it to be happy to help its master with this simple task by dying. Death stepped forward and, acting on instinct, touched a solitary claw to the grublin's forehead, and without a sound it fell to the floor, dead. Death's friends looked back and forth between him and the lifeless body of the grublin, which was slowly crumbling and turning back into the earth it was made of.

"That's it?" asked Pestilence in awe. "All you have to do is touch stuff and it dies?"

Malefor smiled and said, "Touch it again, Death."

Death did as he was told, and the grublin reassembled itself and stood up. It looked a little different, but it seemed to be alive again. "I can bring the dead back to life?" asked Death, unable to control the inkling that he now could do what was once thought impossible by all.

Now Malefor tapped waved his head from side to side, saying, "Yes and no. Once someone is gone, there is no getting them back. However, you can still breathe life into soulless bodies to bring them under your control."

"You mean like . . . a zombie?"

"For lack of a better term, yes. This grublin has felt the Touch of Death and been reanimated by your paw. It is now under your control. By reanimating vast amounts of dead bodies you can create an army of the undead."

"Ah, and that will be the army you promised me."

"You're starting to get it."

"But when do we move somewhere colder?"

"We don't. You do. Let me explain. We are all currently standing in an underground cavern inside the volcano where I was defeated by Spyro and Cynder twenty years ago. If we're going to take over the world, we're going to need to fight for it. Having only one base of operations isn't very practical. We need to spread out, take our own strongholds by force and set up a base for each of us. By spreading our influence, we will not only be that much closer to realizing our goal, but also be set up for better stratagems for the future. Once you have all taken your bases, you will need to set up your troops to guard them and attack nearby areas. For the most part, I'll leave you to your own devices, but every now and then I may have specific orders for you."

"When do we leave?" asked War.

"Right now."

"Is that all?" asked Zar. "You didn't really train me much. Isn't there more to it than that?"

Malefor stood and scratched a spot under his chin before replying, "I didn't train any of your friends that thoroughly. It's really up to you to learn about your powers on your own. In time, and with practice, you will become more skilled and powerful."

"When do we get our armies?" asked Famine.

"Ah, I'm glad you asked. That's the best question you've ever asked me, Famine. Death will forge his own army on the undead. Pestilence, you can corrupt others with the right strain of your disease. They will become far more powerful and connect to each other with you at the center much like Yarrow was the center of the hive mind in Warfang. These corrupted will form a part of your army along with . . . other things. . . You shall learn what they are in time. War, I have contacted the apes again and let them know of my return. I also gave them instructions to meet you just outside the perimeter of the area you shall take as your base. They should know to follow your every without question, but they may need a little convincing that you are the one in charge. Finally, Famine, I will grant you my army of grublins."

"But what will you use as your army?" asked War.

"That is a surprise that shall be revealed in good time."

"So where exactly are we going?" asked Pestilence. He was impatient to get out of the volcano and have something to do.

Malefor looked at each of his generals in turn and said, "I will stay here, as this is my base. Famine, you will take the Tall Plains in the east. War, you will attack Munitions Forge in the south. Pestilence, you will take back Concurrent Skies in the west. Finally, Death, you will conquer Dante's Freezer in the north."

Malefor spread his wings and threw his head back, letting out a mighty roar that shook the earth all around them. Four rifts opened up around the group and they each began to make their way to their respective portals. Before they left, Malefor proclaimed, "Go forth, my disciples. Show no mercy."

Three of the four went through, but one stayed behind and let his portal close. Malefor raised an eyebrow and asked, "What is it, War?"

"Master Malefor, forgive me, but ever since we came back from the mission, I've had the feeling that something is wrong."

Malefor inclined his head and asked, "How so?"

War shuffled about on the spot for a bit before taking a deep breath and saying, "Okay. I feel like I'm getting some strange vibes from you. I haven't known you for very long, but I guess I know you well enough to know that something must have happened while I was unconscious. Something that . . . has maybe upset you?"

Malefor eyed his First Disciple with concealed surprise. _How did he pick up on that? I've always been excellent at hiding my emotions, sometimes, perhaps, even from myself._

The Dark Master shook his head and replied, "No, War. Nothing happened. Now go, you're behind the others." Without another word, War turned around and stepped through the portal that Malefor reopened for him and disappeared, leaving the Dark Master alone with his thoughts.

"Those eyes . . . those damn eyes. . . They always showed nothing but disappointment for me. I can split mountains, choke the sky with floating islands, and rip the whole damn world to pieces! But no matter how hard I tried, I never made that old dragon proud of me! All cringe at the mere sound of my name. Everyone fears me. Spyro and Cynder could only beat me together with the help of the ancestors. They may have been brave enough to face me, but still, _they feared me._

"But that old dragon, that ancient geezer never held any feeling for me save disappointment. I can take anger, sadness, even the deepest of loathing, but disappointment!? Bah! I have powers that no other can wield. I can brush aside armies. I can single handedly alter the course of history. Everyone must fear me! I am the Purple Dragon! Why, then, couldn't that ancient dragon afford me even the smallest glimmer of fear or respect, even in the very face of death? I had assumed that killing the fool would ease the troubling feeling his attitude has plagued me with for all these years, but it has done nothing to alleviate my discontent! Now I must live with the knowledge that there was always that one that I couldn't break, and now that he is gone, there is no chance of ever breaking him!"

The purple dragon huffed and puffed on the spot after his rant until he was calm once again. After several moments of silence, a low growl escaped his throat and he muttered under his breath at the giant crystal above him, "I hate you, Yarrow."

XXX

Death stepped out of the portal and into the frozen land known to all as Dante's Freezer. His armor began to pulse and a faint, low hum could be heard coming from all around. The powers of the armor were still new to him, so he didn't know what it could mean. After a moment, the armor stopped pulsing, but if he listened closely, he could just hear the barely audible hum emanating from some unknown origin.

He took a look around to make an assessment of his surroundings. Everything was covered in a sheet of glistening snow with a thin layer of ice on top that gave under his weight. Broken war equipment and frozen bodies locked in the position of ultimate defeat littered the ground in the courtyard he found himself in. A gate stood to his right, through which he could see the ocean, and the way to the interior of the island lay before him.

After several seconds of careful observation, making sure nothing escaped his eye, Death started forward, enjoying the sound of the snow crunching beneath his feet. The noise alerted the tiny squirrels that hopped around of his presence and sent them scurrying away. His intrusion also attracted the attention of the bodies that lay scattered throughout the field, which jerked themselves out of their frozen death throes and stood upon skeletal limbs with nothing more than tattered remnants of half decayed flesh that could never fully decompose in the deep freeze that was their grave. Torn, rent armor clung to their forms, held on as if by the very magic that kept the foul beings on their feet. Jagged, rusty weapons now pointed toward the half startled, half amused dragon. The soldiers, more dead than alive, advanced on him, ready to protect their fortress, even in death.

Death didn't know what magic brought these beings back from the great beyond, but the fact that they were clearly already dead made his job easy. Acting on instinct once again, he raised a paw and held out a solitary claw, pointing at each frozen soldier as he swept his paw out to gesture at all of them. Each one shivered as his claw moved past them, and when the simple movement was complete, he stood before the dozen soldiers and smiled. "Alright, all of you, lead me to the most secure place in Dante's Freezer. I am General Death, and I am taking this place as my province."

The soldiers turned and began to lead him into the interior. As they went, Death thought for a moment and said, "Form a guard around me. I want no nasty surprises coming from a direction in which I'm not looking." Again, the soldiers obeyed without a word.

They walked in silence for a while, making their way through courtyards, fields, hallways, and gates. Along the way, more of the frozen warriors attacked, but none were able to land a hit before being bent to Death's will. As the steadily growing group was crossing a bridge, Death could stand the silence no longer. Though he was quiet person himself, he admittedly enjoyed the background noise generated by the incessant babbling of all the other idiots the world had to offer. "Can you guys talk at all?"

The nearest soldier turned to Death and replied, "Yes, my lord."

"Then why the soul shattering silence? It's awfully boring, and it puts me on edge."

"Sir, you never gave us permission to speak."

"Well then, at ease everyone."

The crowd around him began to murmur to one another as they went. Death could hear them puzzling over who their strange new master was and why he had come to command them at Dante's Freezer. Their idle talk informed him that they were aware of his power over them. They might be his slaves, but they weren't mindless. Several quietly debated whether they should ask him these questions, but they feared his power, for they didn't quite understand it.

Since Death of somewhat in the same situation, he began to speak, causing all the others to fall silent. "As I said when I arrived in Dante's Freezer, I am General Death. I have only just recently acquired my powers over the dead, as I am still learning about them myself, but know that I am master of death, as my name implies. Seeing as you are all dead, you are under my control. However, I am curious. Why is it exactly that you follow me? What drives you to do as I say?"

The nearest soldier answered, "Well, aside from the fact that we used to fear you, we feel an overwhelming desire to do your bidding. It's too strong to be natural, so it must be your magic."

"Wait, you no longer fear me?"

"Now that we know you are inexperienced, no."

"Well then. . ." Death reached out and touched a claw to the soldier, causing him to fall to the ground and shatter to bits. "How about now?" he asked as he turned to another.

All of the warriors edged away from him a bit and nodded rigorously to affirm that he held their respect once again. One of the largest swordsmen asked, "General Death, if I may be so bold, what is your purpose here?"

"I am here under the orders of _my _master."

The soldiers muttered furiously at this response, wondering who could possibly be the master of Death. The same soldier worked up the nerve to ask, "And who, if you don't mind my asking, is _your_ master?"

"The _Dark_ Master."

More muttering ensued after this response. "You mean the Dark Master has returned once again?"

"That's right."

"Interesting . . ."

"Yes, now I have a question for you. What is it that brought you to life before I got the chance to myself?"

Feeling confident with his standing with General Death, the spokesman of the undead warriors inched closer to their self-appointed leader and replied, "No one really knows that. All we know is that for some reason, anyone who dies in Dante's Freezer cannot know eternal rest. Instead, our spirits hang in limbo, waiting for a mysterious force to cram us back into our old bodies. Some say the land is cursed, but that's just a rumor to explain the unexplainable."

"That at least somewhat explains why you seem to retain your old souls even though you're all dead. Why do you only come back to life sometimes?"

"Who can say? But it's almost always when there's an intruder in our midst. A power seems to flow up from the ground and raise us from our slumber so that we may defend our ancestral home."

Looking around in distaste, Death replied, "Why defend this place? It's a wreck. I still don't know how I'm going to make a base out of this place."

"Well, the power that awakens us always seems to have a purpose, much like yourself. Come to think of it, your power is exactly like that which controlled us. It always filled us with an overwhelming desire to kill anything with blood running through its veins."

"Hmm, so tell me, who was in charge before I came along?"

"That would be Dante the Ice King, our home's namesake."

"Where is he?"

"We're taking you there now. Mind you, he was torn to bits several years ago by a little purple dragon about your age. That dragon made trouble for all of us, along with the Dark Master's forces, who also invaded this place at that same time he showed up. Anyway, the magic of the land has slowly mended him back to his normal state. He should be in top form by now, so unless you magic works on him, you'll be in for a rough fight."

They finished crossing another bridge, which was slow and difficult due to the fact that the floor had fallen out and a long drop awaited anyone who couldn't make the jumps from safe point to safe point. When they got to the other side, they found themselves in a long field that featured a cliff face to the left and sported huge castle walls to the right. Another bridge led across the chasm to the left at the other end of the field, but Death hoped that he wouldn't have to wait for everyone to carefully cross that one, too. When they reached the other end of the field, the soldiers faced away from the bridge and the large one next to Death said, "We're here."

Death faced a tall, thin door at the end of the wall surrounding the castle and tried to force his way in, but the door wouldn't budge. After several awkward moments, the large warrior said, "Uh, sir. . ."

Death whipped his head around and asked, "What?"

"Over here."

Death watched as the soldier pointed at a small opening in the ice wall that brought an end to the field. "Oh. . . Thank you."

The hole was too small for the soldiers to go through unless they crawled, but Death didn't feel like taking them with him. They would have to go in single file, which would take a while considering he had amassed over a hundred of them on his way to this point. "And this is the most secure place in Dante's Freezer?" asked Death with apparent skepticism.

"Well, Dante sleeps in this cave, but our greatest stronghold in the fortress you just tried to break into."

"Then get inside and prepare a bed chamber for me. If there is anything resembling pillows or blankets in this place, then craft a bed for me. After that, set up a perimeter around the fortress and a group to patrol the inside. What is your name?"

"In life, I was known as Vorath the Render."

"Very well. Vorath, you are the Captain of the Guard. You are in charge while I am away from Dante's Freezer for anything. In short, you are my second in command. Now organize everyone while I have a little chat with Dante."

Vorath saluted and replied, "Yes, General Death."

Satisfied that progress was being made, Death turned and entered the cave. After a couple minutes, he found himself on a ledge, looking out over a platform of ice rising up from the darkness of an abyss. He glided down to the crystalline plateau, and once he landed, he noticed that his armor began to slowly pulse again. The constant hum that had previously been easy to ignore suddenly intensified, causing his eardrums to buzz as if the sound was now inside his head.

He looked around and found a throne upon which sat Dante the Ice King. The giant warlord awoke at his presence and jumped down from his seat to land on the platform with Death. The giant towered over Death and threatened him with a mighty roar, but Death held his ground. He pointed a claw at the Ice King, but he merely shuddered a bit and shook the magic off. Dante advanced on the intruder and swung his massive sword at him with surprising speed. The blow surely would have killed him, were it not for the armor, which absorbed the full force of the strike. Deciding that direct contact would be more effective, Death lunged forward and placed both paws on Dante's leg. The armor pulsed at a quicker pace for a brief moment before falling back into its soft, slow rhythm. The Ice King now belonged to Death.

"Dante, I am General Death. I have come to take your land as my own by order of the Dark Master, Malefor. _You_ are to be my personal body guard. Now get us out of here."

Without a word, Dante grabbed Death and carried him to an exit that was previously hidden from view. When they got back to the fortress, a patrol was seen guarding the grounds outside the walls. They stopped and marveled at Death as he passed them in Dante's arms. A door opened to let them in and Death was pleased to see more soldiers patrolling the grounds inside the outer wall. However, there were hundreds of lifeless bodies in the courtyard that still posed as a minor threat.

Once Death entered the enclosed area, they all awoke and ran past their fellow soldiers that had been turned to obey Death in an attempt to kill the interloper. Wave after wave of troops were turned by Death's sweeping paw movements. There were small ones, large ones, and some who even rode atop giant four legged beasts. None could resist Death's influence over them, and after several minutes, all had been subjugated by him. He gave them orders to patrol the grounds and attack anyone who came across the fortress save his friends who wore similar armor and Malefor in case any of them ever wished to pay him a visit.

When he was finished, he entered the keep only to face more fallen enemies that thirsted for his blood. It was all too easy to turn them as well, and when he gave them the order to patrol the corridors, he motioned Dante on up some stairs. As he made his way through the castle, he saw more of the soldiers who had been turned outside, patrolling the corridors and stepping past other fallen being which joined Death's rapidly growing army. After several minutes, he finally made it to a door at the end of a grand hallway. As he approached in Dante's arms, the door opened and Vorath came out. "Ah, I see you've managed to control Dante as well. Congratulations, General Death. I have just finished crafting a makeshift bed for you in the room beyond this door. As you no doubt observed on your way here, I have also told the others to defend the fortress. I assume you have also enlisted the help of those who once defended this place in life?"

"You assume correctly. Thank you for your excellent work Captain. I trust you can command the others as well as those you have already set to work. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be in my room. Knock if you need anything and report anything interesting or out of the ordinary to me."

"Yes sir." Vorath saluted and walked away.

Death jumped out of Dante's arms and said, "You guard this door. Don't let anything living come inside save myself. If other dragons wearing armor like mine or a purple dragon claiming to be Malefor wish to enter, they may also pass."

He then entered the room and closed the door behind him with a flick of his tail. Like the rest of the place, everything was broken. Nothing seemed like it was in place. Chairs and couches were flipped over and scattered in pieces. There was a bed too, but it was broken as well. Vorath had salvaged what remained of the tattered sheets and torn cushions to make a nest on the floor large enough for Death to sleep comfortably in. However, he wasn't ready for bed yet. Instead, he walked to some ripped up curtains and pulled them aside to look out the window. The sight that met him was a grand overview of the entire island. He sat at the top of the highest tower in the middle of the frozen land.

Feeling confident of his dominion over Dante's Freezer, sitting at the pinnacle of the once proud kingdom, he touched his chest plate and reported, "Master Malefor, Dante's Freezer is ours."

XXX

Crystals, crystals everywhere. Yet none of them held the power of the ancestors. The air was supercharged with electrons that gathered on the crystals and discharged, playing about the crystal fields like dancing lightning. Storm clouds perpetually blocked out the sun and added to the buildup of ionic energy that made Pestilence's scales tingle as he made his way through trails carved into the crystal fields. He looked up and saw a massive fortress towering over him like a sleeping giant. The electromagnetic fields that chaotically collided and shifted around provided the perfect atmosphere to magnify his electrical powers tenfold.

The place was a paradise for Pestilence. His armor allowed him to harness the power of the fields around him in ways that no other electric dragon could. He could feel it the armor pulsing as it absorbed the energy around him like a sponge. A faint buzzing could be heard, so he assumed it was the hum of the electricity around him.

As he made his way through the grounds, he listened carefully, but the only sounds that could be heard were the periodic bursts of lightning all around and that constant low hum. The grounds outside the fortress appeared all but deserted with the exception of some indigenous electric eels, but they posed no threat to the likes of him. He killed them as he went, either by overloading them with electrical energy or by spitting his corrosive acid at them.

Every now and then, he came across towers with searchlights slowly scanning the path before him. They appeared to be the only working devices anywhere, which Pestilence found a bit odd. While passing the first one, he made the mistake of walking right into the light and was met by the greatest surge of electrical power he had felt in all his life. His armor took the brunt of the energy, and the fact that he was an electric dragon helped protect him a little more, but it still hurt. Once he was out of the light, he ran away from its path. After that electrifying experience, he made a note not to be so careless in the future.

Other than the defense towers and the electric eels, there was no opposition as he made his way toward the interior of the fortress. This made his journey a short one. After only a few minutes of walking, he came to a large open area with an impressive set of stairs leading up to what he assumed to be the front door of the castle. He walked inside and found that there was actually another section of grounds to make his way through. Just when he thought he was finally inside, he had to keep going through more crystal fields in an attempt to reach the main section of the stronghold.

Finally, after a few more minutes of walking, he came across another doorway leading into the foreboding building and saw, not another door leading out, but an elevator that rose once he stood in the center. After a ride up, he made his way through several rooms and glided from tower to tower, realizing just how high up he was. After another elevator ride at the other end of the keep, he found himself standing on a platform, looking around and trying to find a way to continue forward, but the path he had taken seemed to lead him all the way up here and stop.

Pestilence got a strange feeling from this place, almost as if something of significant importance had happened here once, but he shook the feeling off and tried to figure out his next move from here. After another moment of study, he determined that he could go no further from here on foot and took to the air. After flapping in circles for a few seconds, he decided on the tallest tower the place had to offer.

Flying up and through the open window, he landed in a rather spacious room with a large bed already made in the center. Many gems littered the room. There were crystals of every color gathered in huge stock piles all around the room and several old, chewed up bones scattered among them. It looked to Pestilence like a dragon already lived here, but nothing had indicated that any living creature had set foot in this place for quite some time. After a moment of deliberation, he touched a paw to his chest plate and asked, "Master Malefor, Pestilence here. Concurrent Skies appears to be abandoned, but I did find a room with a bed and loads of crystals. Does anyone live here? Like a dragon, maybe? I didn't notice anyone in my search of the place."

After a moment, Malefor's voice emanated from the armor and said, "Concurrent Skies was once the home of my old general, Cynder. When Spyro attacked the fortress, he killed almost everyone stationed there. After he freed Cynder from my power, the remnants of the guard felt no need to stay and left the lands surrounding the crystal fields. I'm sure no one has been there ever since."

"Sooo . . . what should I do now? I suppose I've recaptured Concurrent Skies, but I'm the only one here. What's my next course of action?"

"For now, just enjoy yourself and await my next orders. Oh, and let me know of anything you might deem interesting."

"Alright, Master Malefor. Will do."

The connection ended and Pestilence was alone once again. "Ugh, I wish I had someone to talk to. The silence is a little eerie, and there's nothing to do here. How am I supposed to enjoy myself here?"

He looked at the bed that had once belonged to the Terror of the Skies and decided to make himself right at home. Seconds turned to minutes and after only ten of them had passed, he sighed and rolled over on his back to stare idly at the ceiling. He lazily touched a paw to his chest again and asked, "Yo, War. How's it going?"

"Pestilence? I'm a little busy at the moment." A large explosion could be heard through the link, and screaming could be heard in the background along with several shrill, screeching howls that he assumed belonged to apes.

"Still haven't taken Munitions Forge? Man I'm crazy bored here. Welcome to Concurrent Skies. Population: me."

"Well, Munitions Forge isn't exactly deserted so, HA!" Another loud explosion sounded across the link, eliciting more screams from creatures unknown to Pestilence. "You'll have to talk to someone else. I have to go. Get in there and fight! Don't make me do all the work!"

The connection was brought to an end and Pestilence crossed his arms. "Humph, he gets to have all the fun, and I'm stuck here with nothing to do. Great, this is just great. He _is_ the master's favorite. That's probably why he gets the fun job while I'm stuck here holding down an empty fort. Maybe this is punishment for not focusing in battle like Malefor always says. Oh well, maybe Famine's not too busy."

He touched his armor again and asked, "Hey Famine, Tall Plains at your mercy yet?"

"Yeah."

Pestilence waited for more, but when Famine wasn't forthcoming, he asked, "Care to elaborate?"

"Well, there are these weird llama people. They call themselves the At . . . At . . . Atlawa? But they didn't put up much of a fight."

"Atlawa? What are they like?"

"I dunno . . . furry?"

"Furry? Okay . . . anything else interesting happen?"

"No."

_Figures. I should have known better than believe that Famine could have a meaningful conversation. The only thoughts moving through that idiot's head are the ones that others put there for him._ "Okay . . . well then, have fun with that."

The connection ended, and he was alone yet again. He briefly considered contacting Death, but muttered to himself, "Huh, no. I'd have to be pretty desperate to want to talk to that arrogant, self-centered, stuck up piece of permafrost. He thinks he's so much smarter than everyone else. No. Better to lay here and die of boredom."

He rolled over and positioned the cushions and covers the way he liked them and closed his eyes. Seeing as he had nothing better to do, he figured he might as well take a nap. He lay his head down and let the soft hum and the steady pulsing of his armor lull him into a peaceful sleep.

XXX

Famine landed on a ledge and looked around. A lush jungle with dense vegetation and old native ruins were the only things he could see. He walked to the edge of the ledge, but only saw white mist that could have very well been the clouds. There was no telling how high up the Tall Plains reached since Famine had never been, but the name implied they were rather up there.

He turned around and made his way through the jungle trails. For a while, he didn't see anything of interest, but several minutes into this search, he heard voices. He lumbered through the trees and undergrowth to find the source of the voices without any thought as to who they might belong to.

When he tore his way into a small clearing about the size of his old room, he found that two creatures the likes of which he'd never seen were staring at him with raised eyebrows from the far side of the glade not ten feet away. They were covered in fur and walked upright on two legs, though they didn't quite match the description of an ape. These beings were more like the tales he had heard about llamas, the creatures who only lived atop Tall Plains and on the smaller islands surrounding them. They used their other two appendages to wield pointy spears, which were now pointed in his direction. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" asked the older looking one.

After a moment of thought for the simple questions, Famine replied, "I'm General Famine, and I came here to take over the Tall Plains."

The bluntness of his answer stunned the two creatures for a moment, and they gave each other sideways glances before the older one asked, "You? Ha! Don't make me laugh. What's one dragon like you going to do against our entire tribe? You'd need an army to . . ."

Grublins made their way through the trees behind Famine, answering the silent call he had sent to them. After a few moments, the edge of the clearing behind Famine was teeming with what looked to be at least fifty of the little monsters. Some stood like the llamas and held similar spears, some stood taller and wielded larger weapons like battleaxes and long swords. Still others hovered in the air, their wings buzzing to keep them aloft, but even more frightening were the roaring and crashing sounds that were emanating from the jungle behind the dragon in strange armor. Whatever he brought with him, it was big, too big.

The older llama leaned closer to the smaller one, never taking his eyes off of the creatures before him, and quietly whispered in his ear, "Run."

The Atlawa made their way through the underbrush with expert speed and agility. They could hear the sounds of pursuit just behind them, but they were quicker and had the home field advantage. There was plenty of time for them to get a head start and warn the others of an attack. After several minutes of running, they burst through the trees and into a large area with several tiered buildings with connecting bridges between the higher tiers. This was the main village, the heart of the Tall Plains. Many Atlawa went to and fro, taking care of business as though it were any other day. Seeing as it was the capitol of the Atlawa tribe, it was also the most fortified and most easily defendable position in the Tall Plains.

The two ran through the village, shouting to everyone they passed that danger was coming. The word spread fast and everyone immediately started taking up weapons and rushing to battle stations set up around the village. Some even made their way to the top of the buildings, where repurposed earth cannons built by Malefor's forces a couple decades ago still stood.

As the commotion continued, one llama took it upon himself to warn the chieftain, Kane. He burst into the conference room where political matters were discussed and bowed his head. "I'm terribly sorry for the intrusion, but two hunters just returned from the jungle. They claim that an army led by a dragon is several minutes away and closing."

Kane stood and turned to his guest, "Well ambassador, it seems you were right after all."

A tiny globe of golden light rose a few inches and said, "And you didn't believe me. Here I was, about to fly away and call over my shoulder, 'You'll be sorry when they're knocking down your doors.' But no, _now_ you believe me now that they're a spear's throw from your pad. No one ever believes the amazing Sparx."

Kane held up his hands and said, "Yes, yes. You were right all along. I just didn't think the dragons would send an insect to deliver such an important message."

"Hey! Twenty years ago, you were all calling me a god!"

"We were talking about your brother, but that's not important right now. We have to drive back the Dark Master's forces, and this time . . . this time we won't lose!"

Kane left the conference room and took his place at the top of one of the buildings where all would be able to hear his orders. Once everyone was in place, they waited in silence for the opposing army to arrive. At first, they heard nothing, but then an ominous rustling in the jungle coupled with unsettling gurgling noises could be heard making their way toward the village. Everyone tensed and prepared to meet the enemy with projectiles as soon as they showed themselves.

The sounds grew louder and louder, sowing apprehension through the ranks of the Atlawa. Every second felt like a life time, every shallow breath a deafening roar. Just as it sounded like the army would trample the entire jungle, the noises halted. All was silent. Everyone watched and waited. After a few seconds, a lone grublin ran out of the trees and barreled across the distance between the jungle and the village. An arrow found its way between the creature's eyes before it could even make it halfway. Without a sound, it fell to the ground, dead.

Seconds later, hundreds of the monsters swarmed out of the trees and assaulted the village. Kane raised his sword and slashed it downward to point it at the enemy and shouted, "Attack!"

The Atlawa rushed forward and met the beasts with spears, while others stayed back and blew poison tipped darts and fired the earth cannons at the enemy. The cannons dropped them like flies, especially the ones with wings that flew over the battle field to attack the cannons. Legions of flying grublins went for the artillery, but many were felled by the streams of projectiles that shot through the air, and others were killed by the Atlawa wielding the blow guns, who dedicated themselves to defending the turrets. Still, even with heavy losses, the flying grublins were able to slowly pick off the Atlawa that defended the cannons. So thick was their swarm that those below could look up and scarcely see the light of day.

Despite this, the battle in the fields was even direr. The grublin horde was pushing the Atlawa lines back toward the village, gaining ground with every passing moment. Once they were close to the buildings, Kane gave another signal with his sword and shouted, "Fire!"

Rows of archers suddenly revealed themselves on each tier of the buildings and unloaded a volley of arrows into the ranks of the enemy. Hundreds fell under the rain of arrows as the archers continued to thin the enemy out while the Atlawa foot soldiers regrouped. When the archer's quivers were empty, they returned to their havens for more ammunition. Before the remaining grublins could recover from the surprise assault and retreat, Kane shouted, "Charge!"

The Atlawa surged forward and were able to repulse the newest wave of grublins and push back the weakened enemy. "Alright, we've got them on the run! Push hard and don't hold back! Keep going! Show no mercy!"

Things were starting to look up when a wave of energy passing through the battlefield and a voice rang out, "Second wave, go."

Suddenly, dozens of figures dashed out of the trees and reinforced the ranks of grublins. These creatures were still clearly grublins, but they were taller with lithe bodies and stronger weapons. They began tearing their way through the Atlawa, cutting them down with ease. Their agility granted them the ability to wind their way around attacks and lunge for the kill as though it were merely second nature. These new grublin warriors suffered nary a scratch at the hands of the Atlawa, who struggled in vain to ward off these new horrific assassins.

By now, the threat of the winged grublins had been effectively abated, and the cannons were able to tear into the forces below, devastating the new foes with powerful projectiles. Nearly all of the tall grublins fell under the might of the heavy weapons, but to distract the attention of the turrets, wyverns replaced their weaker winged grublin cousins. The dragonesque creatures were bulkier than the flimsy fodder they had flown in to replace. As a result, they were easier to hit, yet they demonstrated a frightening amount of stamina. Still, they fell under the might of the cannons.

As the wyverns attacked the cannons, they also managed to pick off several of those defending them with blow guns. Kane noticed the grievous condition above and called to those on the battlefield, "Defend the cannons! They're our greatest hope for victory!"

Many answered the call, throwing down their weapons and racing up the walls to reach the blowguns of their fallen comrades. Though the cannons were now safe, the desperately needed troops that left to defend the cannons thinned the ranks of the Atlawa considerably and made the fight on the battlefield rough.

Now larger enemies lumbered into view. Purple beasts five times the size of the largest llama came to replace the warriors and the tiny grunts that had already fallen. They boasted a strength far greater than that of those that had come before them. With the increase in size, these units were much easier to land a hit on, not that that mattered much. The spears of the Atlawa were nothing more than pricks of toothpicks to the brutes. The violet monstrosities wielded massive axes that made quick work of the Atlawa.

Seeing the carnage taking place below, Kane turned back to the village behind him and shouted his next order. "Time for reinforcements! Use the secret weapon!"

An old Atlawa carrying a staff stood in the center of the village, protected by the buildings, the cannons, the ranks of the Atlawa, and a sizable group of personal body guards. As the shaman of the village, he was revered for his magical properties. He raised the staff in the air, and a bright green light shot out from all directions. The light weaved through the buildings and found its way into several of the seemingly decorative rock piles scattered around the village. They began to shake and rise up out of the ground. The stones were connected by vines that held them together in the shape of large creatures the size of the axe wielding warriors that continued to rip the Atlawa to bits. The stone sentinels made their way onto the field of battle and collided with the giants. Together, with the remaining forces of the Atlawa, they seemed an even match for even these beasts.

The Atlawa began to cheer and thought victory within their grasp. The wyverns and winged grublins were being cut down by the guns above, and the enemy forces below couldn't break past the ranks of the Atlawa and the stone sentinels. To improve matters even further, the archers returned and eliminated even more of the stagnant enemies being held at bay, giving the Atlawa the advantage and allowing them to push the opposing army back. The fight continued this way, spreading hope and increasing moral throughout the Atlawa forces. More cheers and war cries were bellowed as inch by inch, they pushed their foes back toward the jungle.

However, just as it seemed as though victory was at hand, a roar rolled through the village, silencing the sounds of merriment. Crashing and thumping could be heard in the jungle behind the enemy. After a moment, the trees parted, and a troll charged into the enemy ranks, knocking llamas and sentinels aside as though they were feathers. It barreled through the lines of the Atlawa, breaking their formation and ignoring the tiny pains their spears made in its thick, mossy skin. After only several seconds, it reached the buildings and began to climb one, continuing to ignore its now devastating injuries, which it had accrued from the cannons above. Turrets, archers, blow gunners, everyone concentrated their fire on the troll, but it made little difference. Once a troll decided it wanted to do something, there wasn't much that could stop it. The living tank wouldn't quit until its mission was complete.

When it reached the top of the building, it raised its arms up high and roared one final time to the sky before coming down on a cannon with both fists, smashing it to pieces and pulverizing the gunner inside. As soon as the cannon was destroyed, the creature fell and tumbled down the side of the building until it reached the ground below. It was dead before it hit the ground, but it had done its job well. With one of the cannons offline, the Atlawa were going to have a tough time pushing back any heavy forces. Unfortunately, the grublin army had been holding out. More of every type of grublin surged out of the jungle in a massive onslaught that resulted in a massacre.

Without the firepower of one of the cannons, the forces in the air gained the advantage and were able to destroy another cannon. It all went downhill from there. One by one, the cannons fell. When they were gone, the flying grublins descended to the village below and picked off the shaman's body guards before killing the elder himself. With the magic of the shaman gone, the stone sentinels became lifeless rock piles once again, and the waves of enemies wiped out the Atlawa and swarmed the village, killing any remaining survivors.

When all but Kane had been slain, the grublins captured the devastated leader and set up a new perimeter around the village. They entered the buildings, already putting themselves to the task of patrolling the streets and the upper walkways between the structures. More grublins scattered throughout the jungle around the village and marched down trails, guarding the newly captured base with the utmost efficiency.

Only now did Famine exit the safety of the jungle where he had commanded his troops to enter the village. As he walked through the streets, he happened upon the Atlawa who had spoken to him earlier. The fallen warrior was lying on his back, his eyes still open, staring into the sky as if to ask, 'why?' Famine stopped and leaned down to say, "Told you," before continuing on his way.

When he reached the center of the village, he glanced at the one prisoner his forces had taken and frowned at them, saying in annoyance, "I said no prisoners. Kill him." He then touched his chest plate and said, "We've taken the Tall Plains, Master Malefor."

"Excellent work, Famine. You've exceeded my expectations. I had presumed that this task would take you considerably longer to accomplish."

Famine smiled at the praise before looking back at his grublins again and frowning. "Hey Master Malefor, I thought the grublins were supposed to follow all of my orders. I told them not to take anyone prisoner and just kill everyone, but there's this one guy they won't kill."

"You need not worry about that. I ordered the grublins to leave one llama alive so as to spread the news of the events in Tall Plains."

"Oh, so you just want a messenger?"

"Very good, Famine, yes."

"Well, if it helps any, I saw this dragonfly called Sparx fly away as soon as we attacked. He's supposed to be Spyro's foster brother or something like that. I bet he'll tell a lot of dragons about what happened here."

"Hmm, you're sure it was him?"

"Yeah, he nearly smacked into my face as he was flying away. It was him."

"Very well. Enjoy a nice rest, Famine. You've earned it."

The connection died and Famine gave the order to his troops to kill the last Atlawa again. Kane's last words before a sword was plunged into his chest were, "Famine? Ah, now I see. So the time has come. You fool. This place will be your tomb. The Atlawa will have their revenge."

Famine ignored the chieftain's warnings and walked away as a sharp intake of breath was heard before it was quietly released one last time. He entered one of the buildings and found a bed that had once belonged to an Atlawa. He lay down and closed his eyes, ready to enjoy a relaxing nap due to the early start he had gotten. To his deep annoyance, Pestilence bothered him about his mission just as he was about to drift off. Famine could tell he sounded bored. After a few moments of obligatory conversation, Pestilence left him alone and he was able to lie down once again. Now that all of the excitement for the day was behind him and everything was much quieter, he was able to finally relax. As he lay on his new bed, he allowed the steady pulsing of his armor and the light hum in his ears lull him to sleep.

XXX

"Mole-Yair, 'ave you seen Quincy?"

The leader of the manweersmalls turned from the mining group he was supervising and peered over at his brother, Exhumor. "No, I 'aven't seen 'im in a while. Let's see, I believe it was t'ree days ago since I've seen 'im last. It was about ze time when all ze miners 'ad zeir 'ats super glued to zeir 'eads. Mmm, now zat I zink about it, zat sounds an awful lot like Quincy's doing. 'E's always causing trouble around 'ere isn't 'e? Zat mischief maker is probably off 'iding while ze 'eat dies down. 'E better lay low for a while. It was extremely difficult to get zose 'ats off."

"Yes, I've already figured out Quincy 'ad a paw in zat. I'm trying to find zat ungrateful little dragon so I can give 'im a piece of my mind."

"Good luck finding 'im. You know zat crazy kid, always 'ere and the next day gone. Zere's no telling where 'e is now. We'll just 'ave to wait until 'e comes back. 'E always comes back. 'E may be a wanderer, but zis is 'is 'ome."

Exhumor shook his head and replied in his rough, gravelly voice, "Sometimes I zink we should 'ave taken 'im to ze dragon city, Warfang."

Nodding his head, Mole-Yair said, "Yes, zat would 'ave been ze smart zing to do, but it is so far away. Taking a baby dragon on a journey zat long would 'ave been dangerous, and by ze time 'e was old enough for it, we 'ad already become 'is family."

Exhumor heaved a long sigh and asked, "What are we going to do wiz zat boy, Mole-Yair? 'E is practically a child of ze manweersmalls, but we cannot deny 'im 'is 'eritage. 'E knows as much about 'is people as we do, which isn't saying much. One of zese days, we're going to 'ave to give 'im up."

Mole-Yair gave his brother a bitter sweet smile and replied, "We 'ave never forced 'im to stay 'ere. 'E is 'ere because 'e wants to be 'ere. If 'e wants to go zen 'e is certainly free to whenever 'e wants. Just a few months ago, he reached the age of his people when zeir powers awaken. I believe zat makes 'im of age."

Exhumor growled and spat, "Don't remind me of Quincy's newfound abilities. Ever since 'e discovered 'e can control fire, 'e's been twice ze nuisance 'e ever was."

Mole-Yair pointed a tiny finger at his brother and replied, "Yes, but zeir was zat time when 'e used 'is powers to save zat group of miners from zat explosion."

Exhumor allowed a smile to light up his face as he gave in and said, "Yeah, despite all of 'is devilish trickery, 'e is a pretty good kid, isn't 'e?"

Suddenly, a series of explosions rippled across the mining camp down below. Mole-Yair and Exhumor stood aghast as they watched some of their fellow manweersmalls were engulfed in a fire storm hot enough to melt their metal tools. When the smoke cleared, all that could be seen of them were ashes and carbonized bones. The work of a manweersmall was dangerous, and sometimes explosions killed a few unlucky workers, but this was something entirely different.

Mole-Yair fell to his knees in horror, weeping as he stared silently at the aftermath of the strange explosion. "What ze-"

Another explosion cut him off, consuming more manweersmalls in the field below. Now he was sure of it. This was no accident. They were under attack. Once this realization hit him, he became enraged at the thought of someone killing his people. Exhumor grabbed his arm and pointed off in the distance, growling, "Look."

Mole-Yair followed his brother's finger and saw what he had somehow missed earlier. A group of apes led by an armor clad dragon were surging out of one of the tunnels and rushing toward the remaining manweersmalls. The apes were howling wildly and swinging deadly weapons as they advanced at full speed. "No! Not again!" cried Mole-Yair in despair.

He was about to bound off the ledge to defend his people, but Exhumor held him with an iron grip and pulled him into the tunnel behind them. "Shut up, Mole-Yair! Are you crazy? Zey'll just kill us, too!"

"We 'ave to save zem!"

"No, zey're already dead. Now come on. We 'ave to get out of 'ere." Exhumor dragged his brother through the tunnel and out of Munitions Forge before the apes could follow. If they were lucky, they would make it to the shore unnoticed and sail away.

XXX

War advanced slowly, knowing the apes could take care of the natives without any problems. They were too small to defend themselves, and they were armed only with mining picks the size of his claws. He walked past the slaughter, not too keen on watching or being a part of it. It had been easy to kill the manweersmalls from a distance because he didn't have to see their faces, but getting up close and actually tearing someone apart with the intention to kill . . . The idea made him queasy. Sure, he had hurt others before, sometimes really bad, but that was a completely different matter than actually _killing_ them.

He walked past the piles of carbonized bones and started to feel bile rising in his throat. Tears glistened in his eyes as he realized he had just killed for the first time. The worst part was that it hadn't just been wild game. It had been intelligent citizens of a community that lived and worked together here, much like the dragons in Warfang. He ran through the mining field and raised a paw, swiping it in a quick, ripping motion and forced the door in front of him off its hinges. He then dashed through the doorway and through a tunnel, which opened up and gave him some air outside, away from the scene of the fight.

A huge ape walked up behind him and asked, "General War, are you alright?" When he was met with silence, he leaned against the wall. "That was your first kill." He wasn't asking a question, but merely stating a fact.

War raised his head, still facing away from his lieutenant and asked, "Does it get easier?"

"After a while. Don't worry about it, sir. We'll take care of the rest. You go ahead and tell the master we've got everything under control here."

The ape walked away and left War to himself. He touched his chest plate and reported, "Master Malefor, we've taken Munitions Forge."

Malefor's voice answered back immediately. "Excellent work, War. You are the last to report. Did all go well?"

"Yeah, I just had a little trouble getting some of your brilliant apes to cooperate. A quick demonstration of my power solved that problem permanently. After that, we attacked with pretty much no resistance."

"Good to hear. You had me worried for a moment there. I thought you would be the first to report."

"Well, it didn't help that Pestilence distracted me in the middle of the fight. Is he the only one in Concurrent Skies? He sounded bored."

"I assigned each of you your different bases because they all suit you for a multitude of reasons. However, until Pestilence forms an army for himself, he will be quite lonely."

"Heh, as jittery as he is, that will kill him. He better learn fast. Anyway, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"How . . . how did you feel the first time you killed?"

Malefor was silent for a moment before he spoke. "It's harder for some than it is for others. Personally, I had no trouble with it. I just acted on instinct, and when I was finished, I knew that I had simply done what I had intended. I assume you didn't enjoy your first experience?"

"Not exactly, no."

"Don't worry. It gets easier the more you do it, no matter who you are. You just have to steel yourself and keep doing it, and after a while you'll become desensitized."

"Alright, thank you master."

War turned back around and walked back to the mining field where the apes were setting up camp. As he walked by, he said, "If you need me, I'll be taking a nap. I got up a little earlier than I had planned."

He then crawled into one of the nearby lava pits and disappeared from view. As he lay in the liquid fire that would melt nearly any other creature, he shook his head, trying to make the annoying ringing in his ears go away. Actually, now that he was aware of it, it was more of a low hum. It felt like it was resonating in his armor, causing it to pulse ever so lightly with the beating of his heart. After a moment, he gave up and just fell asleep.

XXX

At the top of the cliffs, far above the mining field, an orange fire dragon watched in horror as his family was killed in just a few short minutes. Quincy had been hiding in his secret cave that only he could reach ever since he super glued all the manweersmall's hat's to their heads. Exhumor had been furious and even easy going Mole-Yair had vowed that whoever was responsible would have to go on Buffalo Scorpion duty for a month. However, it looked like he would get away with his joke without having to worry about punishment.

Quincy cried for the loss of his community, unable to cope with the unbearable feeling in his heart. It felt as though it was breaking over and over again. He didn't even care if the apes below could hear his laments for those he had known all his life. His mind was being rent in two by the unfamiliar experience of tragedy and misfortune. As his cries echoed through the cave for what felt like hours, it became clear that a change had to be made. Quincy simply couldn't handle the pain any longer. And so, just as he was about to lose mind to grief, something within him clicked, and Haze stepped in.

He stopped his whimpering, picked himself up off the floor, brushed off his scales, and walked to the edge of the cliff. As he stood at the edge, glaring down at the intruders, he made a decision. "You will pay, the lot of you. Not a day shall go by when I won't strive to find a way to destroy you all. And you, dragon, in the pit of fire, I would have expected better of someone of my own kind. Your suffering will be legendary. I despise myself now, for running away like a coward, but I swear to you, I will return one day, and I will have friends to help me end your life. Until then, enjoy the last of your days." With that, Haze spread his wings and took to the skies, zooming off into the distance and leaving Munitions Forge far behind.


	21. Chapter 20 Out of the Ashes

Chapter 20- Out of the Ashes

It didn't take long for Wither to reach his limit. After curing several more victims of Pestilence's vile handiwork, his fatigue had grown past his will to push on. He now lay in the street where he had fallen after rolling off of his father's back. Spyro and Renna went back for him and asked if he was alright, but they received no response from the apparently unconscious dragon. It was then that they decided to stop and rest since Wither wasn't awake to protest.

Not long afterward, Cynder arrived with food for Renna and the rest of her family. Spyro and Renna appreciated the food and ate enough to sate their hunger, making sure to leave enough for Wither. He needed it the most, considering his condition. After a half hour nap, Wither awoke to an anxious crowd of dragons, all of which were wondering when he would be strong enough to help them and their families. He felt terrible for leaving everyone hanging, knowing that they were all counting on him, and quickly ate every last bite that had been left for him in record breaking time. Once the food was gone, he climbed back up on his dad's back and told him to continue.

The day wore on and more and more dragons flocked to the group that was told to be curing everyone in the city. Wither glanced around at everyone following him from his spot on his father's back. It seemed like there were more to help the further he went. The stress of all the dragons around him pleading for help and the pressure of knowing that anyone he didn't tend to would die were starting to eat away at him.

The more Wither helped, the weaker he became and the more frequent and lengthy his breaks became. In their desperation, some of the dragons were starting to become belligerent. They watched as the only cure for their dying family lay down to take it easy. The crowd's expectations of the young dragon began to exceed what he could deliver and he knew it. He hated not being able to help those who needed his aid and now found that he couldn't even look into the eyes of those he had yet to help without feeling ashamed for not doing anything for them.

It didn't help that time wasn't on their side. Every second Wither wasn't helping someone those still infected were getting worse. Not everyone was as strong as the guardians, who could hold off the worst of the effects for a longer period of time. The last house Wither had visited held several dragons that were just beginning to drip small droplets of blood from their noses. This signified the final stages coming to pass. First, it was unconsciousness coupled with difficulty breathing, followed by a severe fever and intense shivering, which then progressed to a slowly, but continuously bleeding nose. Cyril's condition had taught Wither and the rest of the group that the final symptoms were the animation of the blood and the development of large pustules all over the body. None of the citizens had reached this stage in the cycle yet, but if Wither didn't hurry, it was only a matter of time.

After another hour, Wither finally felt like he was making progress. The group of dragons following them had dwindled to single digits, and it was only a few hours after midday. He became more motivated once he saw the results of his hard work and was able to rise above his fatigue. Wither knew he was running on reserves now, but if he could just get the last few dragons then this terrible crisis would be put to an end with no deaths. Then he could finally get the rest he deserved.

It was only with a few more dragons to go that he realized he would now be counted twice the savior of Warfang. The citizens of the city still talked about his absorption of the supernova, but after this, it would just give them all the more reason to look up to him.

Unfortunately, one thing had been overlooked. After another curing, he walked outside, much to the protests of Renna and his parents, who thought he should be carried, and came face to face with a massive group of dragons. They all seemed familiar to Wither, but in his state of exhaustion, he had a little trouble recalling how he knew them. After a quick observation, he noticed that they all seemed healthy, but tired and weak at the same time. It was then that he realized that these were many of the dragons he had cured earlier that day. At first, he thought they had tracked him down to thank him for helping them, but what they had in store for him made his heart sink into his stomach.

As it turned out, all of the people who had been healthy enough to go find help for their families were now beginning to fall ill due to their exposure to their sick family members earlier that morning. Spyro and Cynder kicked themselves for not thinking of this possibility in the first place when it would have been easier to help them, but now that they were showing symptoms, it meant that the infection had spread throughout their entire bodies and would now take more effort to remove.

The new group of dragons began to plead for help on behalf of their sick loved ones who had only just done the same for them. Among the group, Wither even spotted the parents of that young dragoness, Voltina. Fearing that they may be forgotten in the rush, the remains of the old group came up from behind Wither and voiced their concerns for their families yet again. This put Wither in a tiny clearing at the center of a mass of dragons all shouting to be heard over one another. The loud noises they were all making in their frantic effort to catch Wither's attention pounded on the youngling's ears and gave him a headache. His world started spinning, and he began to sway on the spot while fighting back his urge to pass out. He had no strength left to give anymore. The appearance of this new group drained the last of his morale.

Renna and Wither's parents waded their way through the crowd in an attempt to reach the besieged dragon and rescue him from the throng of jabbering dragons. However, before they could get to him, something inside the poor youngling's head snapped. He raised his head and shouted, "Enough!"

Before anyone could react, he gathered the last remnants of his strength and shifted away from the overbearing crowd. Renna had been only inches away when he left. She clutched at the air where he had been not a second after he was gone. The crowd suddenly became quiet, shocked by the dragon's sudden disappearance. It had been a while since anyone outside of Wither's training sessions had witnessed demonstrations of his unique abilities. Now he was nowhere to be seen, and many in the crowd began to despair, having driven away their only hope of saving their loved ones. Some became angry and shouted that he abandoned them, but powerful looks from Spyro and Cynder instantly quelled any voices laying blame on their son.

Spyro suddenly shouted, "It's your own fault for putting so much on him! He's just a youngling! Have you forgotten that? He tried so hard to save everyone to the point that he himself was becoming ill, and yet you reward him with more demands and impatience! I would have expected better of you. I know you're worried about your families, but Wither was doing his best. Really people, he's my son. He deserves more respect than that. Now we have to go find him and spend _more_ time bringing him around so that he can finish what he started. You're all just lucky he always runs to the same place. If I didn't know where he was, it could take hours to find him."

The crowd was humbled by his scorn, and someone stepped forward to say, "We're sorry for the way we treated your son, Master Spyro. It's like you said, we're all just worried about our families, but that was no excuse for our impatience. Will you take us to him? I would like to apologize to him."

Others in the crowd muttered in agreement, and Spyro turned to Cynder, motioning with his head down one of the streets. "You may follow us, but first, we will speak to Wither before any others bother him." He then led the group through the streets. After a moment, someone mumbled something about flying being faster than walking, which tweaked one of Spyro's last nerves and caused him to whirl around to face the crowd again. He gently grabbed Cynder's damaged wing and held it out to them, gesturing at it and asking, "Does it look like she can fly to you? We're walking. Deal with it, or go home. I don't really care which right now. I'm getting tired of the disrespect. Things are bad enough as they are without negative comments like that, so unless you have some useful input, shut the hole that makes the words."

The rest of the journey was spent in absolute silence. It wasn't often that the Purple Dragon became angry, but the constant pessimism of the crowd had nurtured Spyro's animosity toward them a great deal through the course of the day. Now that it was clear he was less than happy with them, those in the crowd were too afraid to open their mouths for anything for fear of inciting the wrath of the Purple Dragon.

Even Cynder was surprised by her husband's sudden outburst of anger. His usually calm and sunny disposition was being rapidly eroded by the irritating and gloomy nature of the gathering that trailed them like a swarm of pesky insects that wouldn't leave until it got what they wanted. It didn't help that they had also made Wither have a nervous breakdown. Spyro obviously couldn't attack the citizens of Warfang, so instead, Cynder observed, he bottled his anger up and tried not to let it show any more than what was needed.

After several minutes, the towering home that housed the famous family came into view, and once they reached the base, they stopped outside the front door. Spyro turned around and said in the calmest voice he could muster, "The three of us," he gestured at himself, Cynder, and Renna, "are going to go in and talk to him. You are going to stay out here and wait until we say you can come in." With that, he turned and left the crowd outside with Cynder and Renna following close behind.

Once they were inside, Cynder caught up with Spyro and took her place beside him as they began to ascend the steps up the tower. "I know you're worried about Wither and all of those plagued by the disease, but you need to calm down and let go of some of that anger you're holding in."

"How do you know I'm holding in anger?"

"You mean aside from the fact that I just know because I love you? Have you looked at yourself? The civilians were too afraid to say anything about it, and I don't blame them."

"What do you mean?" Spyro looked down at his paws and was just able to make out a barely noticeable whisper of dim shadows licking the air around his form. The aura was faint, but it was there nonetheless.

Cynder used her hindquarters to nudge him and said, "Come on Spyro. I know you can control it better than that. You don't want to end up like Malefor, do you?"

Spyro sighed and the faint shadows evaporated in the light. "I didn't realize I was doing that. Thank you, Cynder."

"Hey, that's what I'm here for."

Spyro allowed a small smile to find its way onto his muzzle as he continued up the stairs. Behind him a voice asked, "Are you okay, Spyro?"

He turned his head toward Renna and replied, "I'll be fine. I just needed Cynder to help me out for a minute." He wrapped a wing around his wife and held her close for a moment in thanks. Then he pulled her closer and said, "Renna, why don't you squeeze on past us. You can go on ahead and talk to him while we catch up."

The white dragoness did as she was told and ran up the steps past them and began to lead. By the time they reached the floor with Wither's room, Renna had already checked all the rooms and informed them that he wasn't in any of them. Cynder nodded and replied, "That's okay. He's probably on the roof as usual."

They made their way up the top of the stairs to the top floor where the master bedroom was. Of course, Wither wasn't in there either, but it didn't stop Spyro and Cynder from checking, just in case. The only place in the house they hadn't searched was the roof, which was where they all expected him to be. They had no idea what to do when they discovered that he wasn't there.

XXX

Wither shifted into the barren wasteland that used to be Yarrow's garden. All of the plants that had previously occupied the vast circular space had donated themselves to Yarrow for the formation of the Ranvacoya, which was now nothing more than a column of ashes stretching from the crushed remains of the stone wall it had landed on after it fell, to the center where the pavilion once stood. The rich, fertile soil was dug up in the places where all the plants had been before Yarrow had called them to him, and the pavilion now lay in ruins just as the inner wall where the Ranvacoya had fallen. No one had had the heart to repair the damage to the hallowed site yet, so it remained the scarred aftermath of a battlefield, a testament to Yarrow's sacrifice.

Wither slowly walked a path down what were once trails with breathtaking spectacles and amazing feats of horticulture. Memories of his time spent with his ancient friend in this once proud and beautiful garden drifted through his mind. On several occasions there was a need for Yarrow to help him with some sort of injury. The old dragon had always been happy to help. His powers, while clearly capable of destruction, were more geared toward creation and preservation. Yarrow's healing powers were unparalleled by any other or any known medicine. He could take care of just about anything no matter how serious it was given enough time. _Oh, to have him back now,_ thought Wither. _To be able to come to him and know everything will be alright like always. Yarrow could cure everyone. _It would have been difficult, Wither imagined, but he was confident in his belief that Yarrow could fix everything if he were still around.

But Yarrow wasn't around anymore. Wither felt alone as he made his way down the path he had chosen, making his way to the ruins of the pavilion lying scattered in the center of the devastation. _Why? Why did you have to go Yarrow? Everyone needs you now. I need you._ Wither stopped at the pile of ashes where the Ranvacoya once stood. It was on this spot that Malefor had ended Yarrow's life. Tears formed in Wither's eyes as he pictured the event once more. Yarrow had seemed so calm, so peaceful.

"You promised that everything would be alright. You said not to worry. Did that mean nothing? Why would you make me such a promise if you knew you couldn't keep it? Surely you knew you wouldn't survive? Why tell me everything is going to fine right before you die!?" An unquenchable fury rose up within Wither, drowning out everything, leaving only the pain. It was cruel. It was just too cruel of Yarrow to leave him like that, to leave behind some sort of hope when none lay in sight. "What do I do now? Ancestors, gods, anyone? Someone tell me what to do!"

"**I am here, little one."**

Wither looked up with a start. That voice. How could he have forgotten it? The memory had somehow fled from him until now. "Who's there?"

"**I will help you in any way you desire. I'll always come to your call. What is it that you wish, oh great Void King?"**

There was something about that voice. It was undoubtedly trustworthy. The way it spoke, it was too soothing to question. "I need Yarrow back. Can you do that for me?"

"**Bring back a fallen one. This is what you want? You are strong enough. With me, you can accomplish all things. All you must do is take that step. Just step over the edge."**

The indiscernible edge revealed itself. Wither stood before it, contemplating his next move. Just one step. Should he take it? What could the consequences of taking one step produce? Slowly, Wither inched closer to the edge. Then the ground gave a lurch under his feet. The edge disappeared and Wither found himself wondering why one of his feet was hovering over the ground as though he had been about to step forward. He stepped back and looked at the ground in confusion.

The pile of ashes before him began rising up in the center. Soil pushed its way up through the steadily growing mound. After a few seconds, a vine slithered out of the top of the disturbance. Soon after, another appeared, then another, and another. It wasn't long until a slowly spreading network of snaking greenery was reaching outward in all directions, causing Wither to back up. Once the vines had spread out several feet they began to strain against the ground with all their might. Wither watch in fascination, wondering how this was possible and what it was the vines were doing. As they pushed, a large, bulbous plant emerged from the soil, rising out of the ashes.

Wither had never seen anything like it in all his life. The bulb was huge, easily ten times the size of an average dragon his age. Once it was finished rising, it just sat there, slowly swaying as if the wind tugged gently at it. Was this some kind of trick? Was it some strange after effect? Perhaps it was the last remnants of Yarrow's influence leaving the garden. Wither leaned in and narrowed his eyes at the semi-translucent skin of the giant bulb. There was something odd about the way the light hit it. It took a moment for Wither to realize that there was a faint outline of something suspended inside the plant. After a few seconds of scrutiny, his eyes widened in shock as it finally registered with him what he was looking at. "No . . . Impossible."

XXX

"Uh oh . . . but if he's not here then where could he be?" Cynder turned her questioning eyes to Spyro, wondering if he had any idea.

"I think I have another idea. If he's not here then there's only one other place that he'd run to."

Cynder thought for a moment and asked, ". . . You mean?"

"Yeah, it looks like we'll have to pay a visit to Yarrow's garden. If Wither's not there then he could be anywhere."

"Well, come on then," said Renna in earnest. "We have to find him fast." The young dragoness started climbing back down the stairs, suppressing a cough as she did so.

Spyro and Cynder immediately glanced at one another with before following her from an unusual distance. She looked back and cocked her head, asking, "What?"

"Nothing," they replied in unison.

"Let's just get to Yarrow's garden as quickly as possible," said Spyro.

"Why are you acting so strange?" asked Renna before giving another cough, causing Spyro and Cynder to back up even further. When Renna raised her head again, she couldn't hide to fearful look of understanding in her eyes. Nothing was said as the group made its way down the tower. When they reached the crowd outside, the waiting dragons looked up.

"Is he okay?"

"I'm afraid he's not here," explained Spyro. "But there is another place he's bound to go. I hope you're all comfortable making a trip to Yarrow's garden."

Some in the crowd shuffled around a bit, casting the eyes to the ground at the mention of their fallen leader. However, many nodding heads confirmed that they would go if need be. Renna gave another wheezing cough, drawing some weary gazes from the members of the group. Without further hesitation, they made their way through the streets, heading toward Yarrow's house. Everyone made sure to keep their distance from Renna who seemed to be getting a little better. Cynder worked up the courage to get closer to her and asked, "How do you feel?"

Renna was breathing a little heavily and looked up into Cynder's eyes, revealing that her once, beautiful steel blue eyes were now fading to the color of blood. "I feel alright, actually. I think I'm okay. Maybe it was just a tickle in my throat."

"Yes, I'm sure that's all it was." Cynder let Renna walk ahead of her as she fell back to where Spyro followed.

"Well?" he murmured in her ear.

"Her eyes are red," whispered Cynder in a hushed tone.

"How many pupils in each eye?"

"Just one. Do you think it's the strain that changes those who have it?"

"She may have picked it up from one of the elders. We have to hurry. If that strain spreads—"

"That won't happen," said Cynder in a matter-of-fact voice.

Both dragons picked up their pace and caught up with Renna. "Renna—"

"I know. I heard you."

"You . . . you _heard_ me?" asked Spyro, astonished. "How?"

"It must be the corruption. It's starting to enhance my senses. How did I get that strain?"

"I don't know." However, as Spyro said this, he noticed something. "Renna, what's that on your chest?"

"What? Where?" Renna looked down, but she didn't see anything. After a moment of searching, she found the culprit. A single flake of dried blood marred one of her scales like a rust spot.

"You must have missed a little of Volteer's attack."

"What's going to happen now?"

"We just need to get to Yarrow's. Don't worry. We're almost there. Just a little further."

"We should hurry," replied Renna.

Spyro glanced down at Renna again. "Hm? Why do you say that?"

"Because I kind of want you to take a little taste of my blood."

Everyone in the crowd had been listening to this exchange and were now moving at a much faster pace, away from the dragoness who was becoming more frightening by the minute. However, a young dragon suddenly dashed out of an alley to block their way. He was red, indicating that he was a fear dragon. "Stop! You can't go this way!"

"Why? What's wrong?" asked Cynder with a puzzled look.

"There's a terrible infection spreading through this section of the city. If you go any further, you'll be killed for sure."

Spyro stepped forward and said, "My son may be in there. We have to get to him. He's the only cure for this infection, so we're going in. You can come with us if you want."

"No!" Spyro and the others halted again at the young dragon's pleading. "Please, you have to trust me. If you go to Yarrow's garden, you'll regret it."

Spyro gave a sigh and said, "Look—"

"Wait." Spyro turned to Cynder who leaned forward and narrowed her eyes at the youngling. "We never said we were going to Yarrow's garden."

The young dragon faltered for a moment, not knowing what to say. "Well, I . . . that's where . . ."

Suddenly, Renna perked up and raised her head, sniffing the air lightly. "That scent . . . watch out. He's not a dragon."

Everyone turned back to the youngling who was growling in frustration. "Hey, why don't you shut it you little insubordinate—"

"Who are you?" asked Spyro in the most commanding voice he could muster.

The youngling's response was to shoot a gout of blood out of his maw straight at the Purple Dragon. In a flash, Renna was there to take the attack for Spyro. The blood splashed all over her scales and dripped to the ground below. After running off her body, it pooled at her feet and gathered into a viscous blob that sprouted tentacles and skittered its way back to the thing disguised as a dragon. A portion of his body temporarily liquefied to allow the miniature version of the creature born from Cyril's wound to merge with him before he became solid again.

"You!" shouted Spyro in shock. "You're that thing!"

The creature dashed back down the alley it had come from, causing Spyro to give chase. "Wait!" shouted Cynder.

"It's getting away! We have to go after it!"

"Don't you see? That's what it wants. It's trying to lead us away from Yarrow's garden. Wither must be there. We have to get him now. We can worry about that thing later."

After a moment of hesitation, Spyro gave up and agreed. They had to hurry if they were going to save everyone before even more of those things were born. Not to mention the fact that Renna was getting worse. Cynder looked down worriedly at the young dragoness and asked, "How are you holding up, Renna?"

Renna was trembling with every step, twitching toward Cynder ever so slightly every now and then. When asked how she was feeling, she snapped, "Why don't you come here and find out?"

Spyro whipped his head around at this, swiveling his gaze to the suddenly irritated dragoness. Cynder was also taken aback by the harshness in Renna's voice. "What did you just say?"

Renna stopped and grabbed her head with both paws and slammed her face into the ground, where she began to cry. After only a few seconds, she raised her face and gave a sniff, wiping her eyes with a paw. "Sorry about that, it's all I can do not to attack you right now. I just really, really . . . _really_ want to. Whatever this stuff is, I can't control it. It's getting stronger. My face doesn't even hurt anymore. It's incredible, really. I can see every tiny fissure in your scales, Cynder. I can hear your heart beating in my ear drums. Every breath you take is like the gale of the strongest storm. I can _smell_ the iron in your blood, feel the vibrations of your every footfall."

If everyone was trying to keep their distance before, the crowd was backed all the way to the other side of the street now. Every dragon was pushing themselves up against the walls of the buildings, trying to stay as far away from Renna as possible. Only Spyro and Cynder stayed by her side. The Purple Dragon lowered his head and said, "That's Yarrow's house right over there, Renna. If you can hold on for just a couple more minutes, I'm sure Wither will do everything in his power to fix you."

"I don't know. . . This almost feels too good to give up. Mmm, no. I change my mind. I don't want to go back to the way I was. This is so much better."

While Renna was looking at Spyro to tell him this, Cynder said, "I'm sorry Renna."

Renna whirled around to fend off what was coming, but came face to face with Cynder. As she stared into the elder's eyes, she was paralyzed by an all-consuming fear. While she was still vulnerable, Spyro raised a paw and struck her over the head.

XXX

It was a dragon. Inside the pear shaped plant was the silhouette of a fully grown dragon. "What did you do Yarrow?" asked Wither in a whispered awe. For a moment, he thought he heard something skittering behind him, but when he turned around, there was nothing there. He could have sworn he saw a flash of red around one of Yarrow's doors, but was too focused on the bulb to pay attention to anything else for long.

When he turned back around to look at the mysterious plant, it started to open up from the top, peeling down several seams that split apart. As it opened, a sweet scented, green liquid began to drip down the sides of the bulb. It wasn't long before the trickle turned into a waterfall pouring out of the sides. Finally, after most of the liquid had sloshed out onto the ground, the dragon inside slid out and came to a halt right in front of Wither. It opened its eyes and got up, standing on wobbly legs and taking in the fresh air for the first time, again. Many questions filled Wither's mind, and he opened and closed his mouth, trying to voice them before finally settling on, "How?"

Yarrow smiled down at his little friend and replied, "You didn't think I'd have a backup plan?"

"But . . . but . . ."

"Oh, it's alright, Wither. Come here." Yarrow drew a now sobbing Wither to his chest and held him tightly for a moment before setting him back and looking around. "Oh, my beautiful garden. Oh well, nothing lasts forever."

"How is this possible?" asked Wither as he wiped the tears out of his eyes.

"I'll have to explain later. It's quite a long explanation, and I'd rather not have to repeat myself to everyone else who's bound to ask that same question. So tell me Wither, how long was I gone?"

"About four days," responded Wither, still shaken by the fact that Yarrow stood before him, alive and well.

"Perfect, right on time. Did I miss anything?"

Now Wither looked up at Yarrow incredulously. "Did you _miss_ anything? Yeah, you did! You missed your own funeral! And now there's an epidemic fueled by Amophis that Pestilence spread to nearly all of Warfang!"

Yarrow cocked his head in confusion. "Amophis? What's that?"

Sighing and running a paw down his face, Wither replied, "I have a lot to explain to you too, it seems. I'll just do it later and we can call the information exchange a trade."

"That sounds like a great idea. I can't wait."

"Why are you acting so nonchalant!?" yelled Wither as he flailed his forearms around.

"No need to get excited, Wither."

"I thought you were dead!"

Yarrow started to wipe some of the slime from the bulb off his scales. "I was, well . . . still am. Like I said, I'll explain later. Who's Pestilence?"

"Well, do you remember when Arragor called himself General War that day he came back after running away?"

Yarrow attempted to stand on all fours, but was too weak to support himself to this extent. He fell back to the ground and huffed, "Yes . . . what of it?"

"Obsidius now calls himself Famine, Xath refers to himself as Pestilence, and now that they have Zar, he'll be Death."

Yarrow stopped trying to stand and looked off into the distance. "Ah . . . I see. We'll have to talk about that later. You say there's an epidemic going around?"

"Yeah, it's the worst thing I've ever seen." Wither then gave the new Yarrow an account of his entire day. By the time he was finished, Yarrow was looking at Wither with the utmost sense of pride.

"That's an impressive story my friend, but now it's time for you to take a rest. You just let me take care of the sick while you regain your energy."

"Regain my energy? You don't understand. I'm _filled_ with it. It's making me feel sick and sluggish myself. I need to _lose_ energy, but I've sucked in so much Amophis trying to cure everyone that I can't drain it off fast enough."

"This Amophis, I've never heard of it. Whatever this type of energy you speak of is, it must be quite potent to render you powerless. However, an excess of energy is no problem. Just give it to me. I need to regain my strength anyway. This new body is nearly empty." Yarrow held out his paw, and Wither took it gladly. The effect was immediate. Wither felt Yarrow's energy leeching abilities relieve him of all the excess energy that had built up in his body.

When the energy transfer was complete, Wither gave a sigh of relief, and Yarrow sat back with a puzzled expression. He closed his eyes in thought before saying, "Interesting. This particular form of energy seems to be mimicking a virus of some sort. I can feel it trying to infect my body. Alas, I am a life dragon; its efforts are all for naught. Let's see . . . if I invert this. . ." Several moments passed while Yarrow's eyes danced about under his lids. A smile found its way onto his face as he opened his eyes and said, "There we go. I have the cure."

"You do?" asked Wither in astonishment.

"Yes."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

"You're amazing, Yarrow! Is there anything you can't do?"

Yarrow chuckled in amusement and replied, "I doubt I could defeat your parents in combat. Everyone had their strengths, Wither. This just happens to be one of mine."

Wither shook his head and said, "I had no doubt you could do it, but I thought there would be at least _some _level of difficulty to it."

"Oh, it's not over yet. I still need to distribute the cure. It's too bad all the plants in Warfang were destroyed. Now I don't have enough connections to form a network strong enough to span to city anymore. It looks like I'll have to do this the good old fashioned way."

"Door to door?"

"Unfortunately."

Wither hugged Yarrow's leg and said, "I'm so glad you're back, Yarrow. I missed you so much."

Reaching down to pat Wither on the back, Yarrow gave a soothing hum and replied, "Don't you worry my friend. I may be old, but I'm not ready to leave this world just yet. Now come on. Work now, talk later."

That made their way through the remains of the garden and out through the other side of the house. When they stepped outside, they were met by a rather sizable group of dragons led by Spyro and Cynder. Everyone stopped and stared. No one could find it in them to say anything for several long seconds. Finally, Yarrow sighed and said, "Go on, go ahead and get it out of the way. I'm not getting any younger, and I have a busy schedule today."

Everyone started speaking at once, trying to catch Yarrow's attention and wanting to know how he stood before them. He just smiled at them in mild amusement and waited until everyone realized that what they were doing wasn't helping. After the crowd fell silent, Spyro stepped forward, the most horrified look on his face. "I-I . . . I burned your body."

Yarrow crinkled his eyes at Spyro and chuckled quietly. "Thank you, Spyro. It would have been awkward to see my own dead body."

Wither peeked out at the crowd from behind Yarrow's leg and saw Cynder wave at him with a loving smile and an awed expression as she silently gestured at Yarrow. The next thing that caught his eye was Renna, who was draped across his mother's back. "Renna!" Wither shifted onto his mother's back, ignoring her grunts at the sudden and unexpected extra weight. "What's wrong with her!? What happened!?"

Cynder twisted her neck around and looked at Renna with concern. "She has been infected by that strain that corrupts its victims. Your father and I had to . . . calm her down."

Wither raised a paw and eliminated the gravity around Renna. He gave her a light shove and allowed her to drift down toward the ground before putting the gravity back and setting her down gently. After jumping down from his mother's back, he walked up to Renna's motionless body. Everyone watched quietly as he raised a paw again and cupped the side of her face, treating her with the utmost care. He drained the Amophis out of her, and she immediately took in a deep breath and opened her eyes.

"What!? What? What's going on? Wither? What are you—oh. I remember now. Thank you for saving me, Wither."

Wither lowered his head and whispered, "I'd do it every day if I had to. Are you alright?"

She reached up and tenderly rubbed a spot on the back of her head. "It feels like I got clubbed from behind by an ape, but yeah, I guess so."

He helped her up and let her lean on him for support before turning to Yarrow. "The strain she was infected with converts those who contract it to Malefor's side somehow. It also enhances nearly every aspect of their biological capabilities to a frightening degree. This is but a fraction of what we're up against."

Yarrow nodded and turned his attention to the rest of the crowd. "Alright everyone. Wither has informed me that Warfang has been plagued by a sinister disease fueled by some sort of dark magic."

Wither flinched at these words and muttered, "It's not really _dark_ magic."

Yarrow turned his head and asked, "What?"

"I said it's not dark magic."

"It came from Malefor?"

"Well . . . yes, but—"

"It's dark magic."

"It is not, Yarrow. You don't understand what Amophis is."

"I understand that if Malefor and his minions employ it for their purposes it can't be good. It certainly isn't like any kind of magic I've encountered. Why defend it?"

"It's my power. He just stole it from me."

Yarrow blinked at Wither and stared at him for a moment before replying, "We will have to continue this conversation later." He faced the gathering that wordlessly watched the exchange and continued. "Wither has given me the Amophis that he extracted from all of you. From it, I was able to devise a cure. None of you need to bother Wither anymore; I'll take care of everyone from here on out." Cheers erupted from the crowd at this declaration and all celebrated the return of their fallen commander, healer, and teacher.

For the rest of the day, Yarrow made his rounds, curing all those who were touched by the ghastly power. Wither and his parents followed him along with Renna to make sure he was okay. Though he distributed vast quantities of the energy Wither had given him to cure the sick, the well of power hardly diminished at all as he went. The crowd started to dwindle down into single digits again not long after the rebirth of the city's Grand High Elder. Once the final citizens were cured, the remnants of the crowd thanked Yarrow and left the group alone.

Now Yarrow turned to Wither and said, "Well, I do believe that's everyone. Why don't we go see how your friends and the rest of the elders are doing?"

As they walked through the streets, Spyro asked, "Yarrow, how is it that you're alive? Malefor killed you, and as I said before, I burned your body. Even if you could have somehow brought yourself back to life, there was nothing _to_ bring back."

Yarrow chuckled and replied, "All will be explained in due time. I'm gathering the elders and Wither's friends together so that I can tell you all at once. After that, I'll leave it to everyone to spread the word. I'm extremely old and would rather not spend my time repeating myself to everyone."

Cynder flashed the ancient a smile and said, "We understand." She then glanced at Spyro and nudged him to catch his attention. He gave her a puzzled look and leaned in at her subtle gestures. She whispered something to him and he straightened up to give her a tiny nod. Cynder turned to Wither and asked, "Wither, could you be a dear and shift home real quick for me? If we're going to have ourselves a meeting with the rest of the elders, I'd like my silver neck brace."

Wither looked up and raised a questioning eyebrow at her. "You mean the one you're wearing?"

Cynder placed a paw on the piece that currently adorned her neck and removed it. She handed it to Wither and said, "Not this one. The one with the emeralds in it."

Wither let out a hum of suspicion and rolled his eyes. "Oh, but that would clash with your tail brace and your wrist bands. Are you sure you don't want me to switch out the whole set for you?"

"An excellent idea. I had no idea you were such a fashion aficionado."

"Uhhh . . . come again?"

Cynder removed the rest of her bangles and tossed them to Wither. "Catch!"

"Wait, what?" Wither tried to grab everything before they hit the ground, but he missed the wrist bands. Luckily, Renna was there to grab them for him.

Cynder waved a paw at him and happily sang out, "Thank you sweetie! Looks like you'll have to take Renna with you to get it all."

Wither turned to Renna, putting his mother's neck brace over his head like an awkward crown to free up a paw. "Sorry you got dragged into this little errand."

Renna shook her head, sending dazzling beams of afternoon light dancing about. "It's okay. I don't mind."

"Well, let's hurry up and go get Miss Priss her proper jewelry."

Cynder stuck her tongue out and replied, "Oh hush. Why can't I look nice in front of my peers? Now go on. And thank you again."

Wither waved a paw at her and mumbled, "Yeah, yeah. You're welcome." He waved a paw in front of him and walked forward with Renna, shifting them both to his house.

When they were gone Yarrow gave Spyro and Cynder a critical gaze and asked, "Alright, what is it?"

Spyro took a deep breath and began, "There's something you need to know, Yarrow. Cynder and I have been thinking. It's just a hunch, but you should know."

"If it's about the Fearsome Four, Wither already told me a bit about that."

Cynder shook her head and replied, "No, that's not it. We're . . . worried. About Wither."

Yarrow stopped walking and looked down at Wither's parents. He peered into their eyes, watching the tiny shadows dance around within, invisible to all others. "Something is wrong with Wither? Tell me."

Spyro looked at Cynder again before turning back and saying, "We have reason to believe something happened to him after you died."

XXX

Wither shifted to his parents' room and placed his mother's discarded jewelry in the corner of the room. He walked over toward another set placed on the floor against the wall while Renna set her burdens down. She followed him a few steps before veering off and looking around. "Wow, so this is what the bedroom of the famous Spyro and Cynder looks like. It's so . . . fancy. I feel like I shouldn't be in here."

Wither glanced at her over his shoulder and turned around. "Yeah, I can see that. I don't usually come in here myself. It does feel a little weird in here. Maybe it's because the whole room is done in gold marble. With the rest of the house in granite . . . I don't know. It's just different."

Renna looked at the pile of cushions in the center of the room and shook her head. "No, I see your point, but I think it's the fact that this is such an . . . intimate place."

Wither placed a paw to his temple and asked, "What exactly are you implying?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just that this is where the heroes of the world sleep. That almost makes this place sacred or something. Do you never think about it? How your mother and father are the most revered warriors in Avalar?"

Wither flopped down on the cushions and twiddled his claws. "Sometimes. Not as often as others, I think. They're my parents, so it's kind of no big deal to me, you know? To me, they're more my parents than they are the saviors of the world."

Renna sat down next to Wither and swished her tail around. She cocked her head a bit and replied, "I can see that, but it must be pretty neat, huh?"

Still looking at his paws, Wither said, "Yeah, I guess so. It cost me a lot of grief, though. Imagine trying to live up to something like that. Remember, I wasn't always looked at the way I am now. However I am looked at now. Did you see the way everyone stared at me today? I mean, I've been too busy with the training we've been doing to meet anyone new lately. Today was the first time I've seen very many dragons outside our little group. Every time I performed even the simplest of my elemental tricks, they seemed . . . I don't know . . . edgy?"

Renna nodded in response and clicked her claws on the marble in thought before replying, "I guess it's because you're usually treated normally. The gang's used to your powers, so we don't make a big deal about them, but they're still very new to everyone else in the city. They haven't seen all you can do, not even close. They find you intimidating, I imagine, and rightfully so, but they don't even understand the power you wield, and that in itself makes it all the more frightening to them. You can do things that none of the elders are capable of, and that makes you scary to some of the citizens. You're just a youngling, and already you can stand against the Dark Master alone, something your parents can't even boast. They have to wonder what you will become given time."

Wither took this in and considered it for a moment before rising to his feet and saying, "Yeah, you're probably right. You're really smart, you know that?"

Stepping on Wither's tail lightly, she asked, "You're just now figuring that out?"

He pulled his tail out from under her paw and twitched it around a few times to remove the feeling of her paw. "No, I was just making an observation. Take the compliment."

Placing a paw on her chest and pretending to be hurt, Renna replied, "Okay, will do." While Wither walked back over to the jewelry for his mother, Renna moved some of the cushions over and hopped on top of them to take a look at what rested on top of the table next to the bed. A few moments of quiet ensued while she studied what lay before her. The only sounds in the room were those of Wither trying to gather all of his mother's bands and bracelets.

After dropping one while trying to pick another up for the third time he asked, "Hey, can you help me with this?"

"Wither, what is this?"

"How should I know? I don't go looking through my parents' things."

"I think you should take a look at this."

Wither set the baubles down again and walked over to where she sat. "What is it? Please tell me they don't have the _Draco Sutra_ lying out again."

Renna shook her head and replied, "As interesting as that sounds, no. Look at this."

Wither climbed up the cushions to sit next to Renna and looked down. "A book?"

"Not just any book. Look at the cover. It's the _Magna Convexia Dominus_."

"Never heard of it."

"Me either, but look at this." Renna pulled the book open to where a bookmark stuck out from the top. "The book was open to this page."

Wither skimmed through the pages, mumbling clips of what he saw before fixating on one particular passage. "And so it is that those who would chase this power shall fall away to it, delving deeper into the abyss they forge with their avarice and malcontent with the abilities of the self. Let he or she who holds the key that links the worlds find inner peace and know satisfaction with what providence has granted them, lest they despair and die."

Renna looked up to face Wither and asked, "What do you think it means?"

Wither read the words again repeating the last few words almost silently to himself. ". . . Lest they despair and die. . . Renna, I have no idea what this is or what it means, but I get the feeling there's something my mom and dad aren't telling me."

"What are you going to do?"

Wither looked her in the eyes for a moment before saying, "I don't know. Right now, I guess I'll just pretend things are normal. I'll talk to them about it later, when there's less going on. Right now, let's just go back and give my mom her stuff."

Renna gave Wither a worried frown and looked down at the book again. "Whatever this is, Wither, it doesn't sound good. I don't like it. Why would your parents be reading something like that?"

"I don't know, Renna. I just don't know. Come on, let's go. Don't say anything when we get back."

XXX

Wither shifted Renna and himself around the corner from where he had shifted home. He peered around the corner and saw his mother and father talking to Yarrow about something. They seemed to be in a rather heated discussion. "Hmph, I thought they sent us away on purpose. They're talking to Yarrow about something they don't want us to hear. Be quiet, I'm going to send out my nothing."

Renna stepped closer and moved her face an inch away from his to listen to their end of the line. When it snaked its way close enough to the mouths of the heroes and Yarrow, Wither brought it to halt and held his breath. "You have no proof." That was Yarrow.

Cynder answered back, almost sounding angry, "Can't you at least accept the possibility? Don't you think it's a little strange? Because we think the similarities are frightening. He said he couldn't even remember, Yarrow."

Yarrow shook his head and replied, "That could mean anything. Perhaps he was so traumatized by the events that he has repressed some of the memories of that time."

Spyro leaned closer and hissed, "If that were the case, don't you think your death would have been the thing to forget? He couldn't forget that if he wanted to, Yarrow. He's always going to remember that. It's what happened right after that escapes his memory. That's not right."

Yarrow gave a tired sigh and looked away for a moment. After a couple seconds of thought, he asked, "Do you want me to talk to him?"

Spyro faltered at the unexpected question and said, "Well—I—I mean . . . we didn't necessarily—"

"If what you're saying is true then he needs to know. I respect you both as his parents, but if you don't tell him, I will. I'm his official teacher, and I say this is one of the lessons he needs to learn the most. If you want to be the ones to tell him, I suggest you do it quickly, because I'll do it the very next chance I get. I won't leave Wither in the dark about this. Now before I do anything, have you noticed any changes?"

Cynder scratched a claw in the street, making shallow marks in the stone as she considered the question. "Not really. It could just be nothing, or the training for that matter, but after the incident, he seems a little more efficient with his abilities."

Yarrow perked up and replied, "You didn't tell me that."

"It didn't seem too important."

Yarrow raised his voice enough to be heard without the nothing probe. "You know as well as I do that that's one of the primary signs! This changes everything. I _will_ be the one to talk to him now. That you two haven't done so in the past few days is yet another example that you need my help raising him. As his godfather, his teacher, and the Grand High Elder of Warfang, I command the right to instruct him in this. Alone."

Spyro and Cynder bowed their heads until their noses nearly touched the ground. "As you wish, Master Yarrow."

Yarrow lowered his voice again and said, "I made the mistake of allowing you to confine Wither to your tower until the Great Awakening. I will not fail him like that again, especially with something as important as this. I'm not angry with you two. I'm just disappointed in your poor judgment. I'm not enforcing my right to take charge of your child because I want to; I'm merely doing it because I feel I have to. It's for Wither's own good, I hope you see."

Cynder nodded and replied, "We understand, Yarrow. We're sorry to have failed in this."

Yarrow shook his head and said, "Don't be sorry to me. That does no good. Now get up. You know you don't have to bow to me like that, though I appreciate the gesture."

Spyro raised his head and replied, "Thank you, Yarrow. For your help. It may not always be obvious, but we know we're not old enough to do this on our own the right way. Just before you died, we had resolved to take you up on your offer to step in as a third parent."

Now Yarrow softened and gave them a smile. "At last. It took twelve years, but it's good to know I finally have that blessing from you two. While it's official now, this actually changes very little. For the most part, this is how it's been since he was born."

Cynder nodded and said, "Yes, but now you get input on everything. This will certainly help out a lot."

"I'm glad you think so. Alright, now that that's settled, where are those two? They've been gone for an abnormally convenient amount of time."

Cynder's scales ruffled up as she muttered, "They'd best be behaving themselves. That's all I know."

Wither allowed his tendrils to dissolve and looked at Renna to say they should go. She was looking away and trying to cover her face, but managed to wave a paw at him and say, "Yeah, just open the shifting point. I'll follow you."

They stepped forward and appeared between Yarrow and Wither's parents. Wither looked up at Cynder and said, "Here's your stuff."

Cynder leaned down to sniff Wither before straightening up and placing her new bangles on. "Thank you, Wither, Renna. What took you two so long?"

Swishing his tail with poorly camouflaged contempt, Wither spat, "Didn't we take long enough for you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing. I just smell like myself, right? So what do you care what took us?"

Spyro leaned down and asked, "What's your issue?"

Wither turned away from his parents and walked around to the other side of Yarrow, saying, "I don't have an issue."

Cynder tried to look around Yarrow and said, "You sure sound like you do."

Wither slumped against Yarrow and curled his arms around Yarrow's massive foreleg. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm completely satisfied right now. You might even say I have inner peace. It's not like I'm going to despair and die or anything."

Spyro and Cynder whipped their heads up to look at one another before swiveling their gazes to Yarrow. He shook his head and said, "You shouldn't be surprised. He's a smart dragon. Enough of this. Let's just go."

Renna walked around to Yarrow's other side as well to keep Wither company. She wrapped her tail around his and gave him a smile. However, he pulled his tail away and moved closer to Yarrow. Renna backed off and looked away.

Yarrow nudged Wither and said, "That was rude. Come now. You're not mad at her, don't act like it."

Wither turned to look at Renna and said, "I'm sorry, it's just . . ."

Renna turned around, revealing a hurt look that surprised him. "I was just trying to cheer you up, you know?"

"I know, I'm sorry. It's not your fault."

"Then whose is it?"

Giving her a grin and nudging her in the side, he slapped a paw against his chest and said, "It's my fault."

Renna gave a snort and asked, "How is it your fault?"

"Well, my dad says if a dragoness is mad, it's always your fault."

Yarrow let out a laugh that echoed through the streets. "Such truth from so young a heart."

Renna frowned at Wither for several long seconds before flashing him a smile again and saying, "Okay." She held her head up in victory, beaming toward their destination.

As they made their way through Warfang, gathering the members of the group that would attend the council meeting, Wither couldn't help but contain his amusement each time one of his friends or an elder stammered incoherently at the sight of Yarrow. Volteer was especially excitable when he opened his door to the ancient come back from beyond the grave. When Yarrow started to make his way toward Spire's home, Spyro cleared his throat and informed Yarrow that he was currently being detained in prison. This got a look of confusion from Yarrow, but after a moment, he merely continued on his way and opted to say nothing on the matter.

Though everyone was still tired and recovering from the illness, they were able to steadily make their way to their ultimate destination, the dwelling place of the only one to attend the meeting who could not be bothered to move, Cyril. Spyro and Cynder informed Yarrow of his pitiful condition and the cause of the wounds he suffered from.

When Yarrow arrived, he immediately made his way to Cyril's room and instructed everyone to wait outside his room. The door opened to admit him and closed once his tail slid past the threshold. Several long minutes passed by while the elders and the younglings waited in silence. It was surreal, standing, packed together in Cyril's hallway, enduring the mild torture of standing when everyone would rather lie down or have a seat at the very least. Finally, Yarrow opened the door and ushered the members of the council inside. Wither and his friends followed once they were inside and struggled to find a nook for them to rest in. Spacious though Cyril's bedroom was, there wasn't a whole lot of room for the nearly twenty dragons that now occupied it.

Renna and Wither threw sideways glances at Cyril, observing that though he was still a paler hue than usual, the massive, gaping wound in his side was now no more than a ghostly scar that would serve as a constant reminder of this horrifying day. The Ice Master still lay on his good side as per his orders from Yarrow to rest, though he honestly looked to be in no condition for physical strain of any kind regardless.

As Roxy finished helping Elleca into a spot on the floor, Yarrow cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention and silencing the room. "Alright, now that we're all present and accounted for, listen up. I'm only going to say this once. I bet you're all wondering how I managed to survive Malefor's attack." The elders nodded in affirmation while Wither's friends looked to him for an answer before he shrugged his shoulders and gestured back to Yarrow. "Well, here it is . . . I didn't."

"But—"

"However," interrupted Yarrow, cutting off an overeager Volteer. "I anticipated Malefor's attack on the city. By forming a Ranvacoya, I blatantly demonstrated the full force of my destructive capabilities. While I hoped to defeat the deviant children and turn them back into nothing more than what they really are under that armor, I also understood that by using such force, I would draw Malefor's attention to myself. I assumed that, given the chance, Malefor would be driven to end my life, so I secretly devised a backup plan to ensure my survival.

"While connected with the hive in my dome, I carefully constructed an experimental herbological entity by mutating the genes that mapped out its biology. This plant was grown under the altar that I rested on without anyone else's knowledge of it."

"But why, Yarrow?" implored Valorie. "Why keep everyone in the dark like that? Such suffering ensued after your death."

"I didn't want Malefor to become suspicious in case he killed me and no one responded appropriately. The only way to make certain everyone acted as though I was truly gone was to make you all think I was. I am sorry it had to be that way, but had Malefor found my pod I would have been destroyed for good. However, my plan worked perfectly, and I was able to preserve my legacy and cheat death."

The crowd around Yarrow regarded him with sheer awe as he continued his explanation. "Once the pod was complete, I pulled out one of my scales and placed it inside. After that, the pod recognized the alien DNA and began to replicate it, causing the sample of foreign tissue to grow by multiplying the genetic code. The process was surprisingly quick and successful, though it also required a surprising amount of energy to fuel. In no time at all I had a perfect copy of myself waiting in storage beneath me. However, while this body looked like me and was exactly like me in every way, it was nothing more than an empty shell. Once the body was finished, I connected with it and began to copy and transfer all of the memories that I have accumulated over the centuries. By the time _this_ process was done, I had effectively created an exact duplicate of myself.

"After that, all I had to do was send the plant storing my second body a special signal that would awaken the copy if, for whatever reason, I remained disconnected from the hive for four days."

Everyone sat in shocked silence for a moment before Wither asked, "So . . . you're not really Yarrow?"

The ancient bowed his head to answer Wither at eye level. "It's still me, Wither. I'm the same Yarrow you've known all your life. I just have a new body."

"It doesn't look too new to me," commented Elleca. "You still look like you're however old you are. What? Nine hundred?"

Yarrow shook his head and mumbled to himself, "I'm a fair bit older than that," before speaking up. "That's because the copying process isn't a rebirthing. I'm still set at the same age as I was when I was copied. The only difference is that this body was created, not born."

Terrador raised a paw to take the floor and asked, "How much do you remember of your old life?"

"I can remember everything up to the point when I was disconnected from the hive. After that, the transfer process was brought to an end and the countdown for me to awaken began."

Now Wither stood up, mirroring Valorie's previous misgivings. "Why did you make it four days? You could have come back sooner."

Yarrow placed a soothing paw on Wither's shoulder, gently pushing him back down to the floor. "Calm yourself, Wither. I was unable to awaken immediately after my demise. As I mentioned before, the creation of this body took many intricate steps and demanded a great deal of energy from me. I even had to unfortunately siphon small doses of magic from the citizens of Warfang, unbeknownst to them, to feed the ravenous power drain of a project. Right before I was disconnected from the hive, I had to dump a massive reserve into the pod that would infuse my new body with the energy needed to keep me alive and stable once on my own. Even still, you saw how weary I was before you granted me the power that was holding you back earlier today."

Wither grudgingly gave that one to Yarrow and calmed down as he scooted closer to his teacher, keeping one paw wrapped around the ancient's wrist to make sure he was still there next to him.

Noh looked from the youngling to Yarrow and asked curiously, "So does this mean that you can never die of unnatural causes?"

Yarrow turned his attention back to his peers and replied, "Afraid not. This technique is new. I'm the first life dragon to even think of such an application of my powers. It is certainly noteworthy for the Book of Life; however, I did experience a few . . . transcription errors when constructing this body. I lied when I said it's an exact match. Such a feat is impossible due to the vast intricacies of the genetic code, but the first copy is close enough to emulate the original. This means that anything beyond the first copy may accumulate too many transcription errors and could result in an abomination. So no, this is a one shot deal. I would never dare to make a second copy."

Unable to contain himself any longer, Volteer blurted out with unrestrained enthusiasm, "That is by far that most incredible, unbelievable, and stupendous idea that I have ever heard of! In all my years, never before have I thought of such a thing as wondrous as copying one's body and mind to make a replacement in the unfortunate event of death. Such a process must be granted a name. What do you call it, Yarrow?"

Rolling his eyes in amusement, Yarrow asked, "Oh, you would need something to call it, wouldn't you, Volteer. Let's see, I hadn't put any thought into it. At the time, I was simply doing it out of necessity. What say we just call it the cloning process?"

"Splendid, outstanding, remarkable!"

"Alright, that's enough, Volteer," replied Hexus with a light jab at the Lightning Master's ribs.

"Anyway," continued Yarrow, "there you have it. That's my story. Now it's your turn everyone. Tell me what I've missed while I was away."

Spyro was the first to speak. "Well, there is the matter of the Fearsome Four."

Suddenly, with a contempt rarely seen from the Life Master, Yarrow replied, "Ah, yes. Wither has already explained that to me. I would think nothing of it. No doubt it is nothing more than a cruel joke they use to incite further fear and to amuse themselves."

Cynder nodded in agreement, but replied, "Yes, but their new powers seem an awful lot like those of the beings described in the story."

Yarrow looked at the elders all around him as he answered this worry. "This is surely due to Malefor's dark magic." When Wither punched him in the arm with his tiny paw, Yarrow looked down and corrected himself, "Or . . . Amophis, is it?" When Wither nodded, Yarrow looked up and continued, "Somehow, that black crystal armor of theirs powers their abilities. If they were the true spirits of the apocalypse, not that I believe such beings even exist, they wouldn't have been so easy to subdue. Granted, they have given all of you a rough time, but when faced against the collective power of Warfang united under one being, they were as the children they are. By the way, Wither, you seem to have learned a few things during my absence. Have you figured out how to draw energy from the Void yet?"

"As a matter of fact, Malefor explained that to me in fine detail right after he killed you . . . I feels weird to say that. Anyway, he told me all about a side of the Void I didn't know existed."

Yarrow sighed with what almost seemed to be disappointment and replied, "A result of his gloating and boastful nature, no doubt. Well, he must feel fairly confident in himself if he's so willing to share such helpful information with you. Please enlighten me. This thought has been weighing on my mind since the day Arragor attacked."

As Wither explained the nature of Amophis and how it played a role in the Void, Yarrow closed his eyes, taking in the information and realizing what it meant. When Wither was finished, Yarrow sighed and dragged a paw down his face. "I knew there was more to the Void than what we initially thought. It seems to me that rather than being a private source of power for you as we originally believed, it actually plays a vital role in maintaining the very balance of the universe. What I don't understand is this. If all of that power is meant to fall into the paws of _one_ dragon, then that would make that dragon somewhat akin to a god. There doesn't seem to be any force of nature that can check the power of a fully developed Void King, as Malefor called you.

"The world is all about balance. Without it, everything will fall apart. Every conceivable thing in the universe must have its strengths as well as its weaknesses, but the powers of a Void King, if united under the control of one dragon, make that being invincible. There is no power capable of checking unlimited power. That means, from what we know, the power of the Void is capable of disrupting the balance of the universe. Therefore, I must come to the conclusion that there is still more about the Void we have yet to learn."

Elders and younglings alike sat around the ancient in silence as Yarrow let them digest this. After a few moments, Terrador shuffled around and mumbled, "After all that work they still managed to get ahold of Zar. That's one more threat we can add to our list now."

"Not to mention that _thing_ that came out of Cyril," mentioned Spyro through gritted teeth.

Yarrow frowned to himself and said, "Tell me more about that creature, Spyro."

"We met it earlier while we were on our way to your garden. It's made up entirely of an amorphous mass of blood, but it can solidify and liquefy on command. This makes it a rather deceptive shape shifter. It came to us in the form of a dragon, but due to the fact that it's made up entirely of infected blood, it's red like a fear dragon."

"It came to you?" asked Yarrow interestedly.

"Yes, it was trying to keep us away from your garden. I suspect it knew of your return and could sense your ability to undo it. You must have posed as a major threat to it."

"Did it do anything?"

"It tried to infect me by spewing a disgusting stream of blood at me, but seeing as Renna was already infected, she thought it was a good idea to jump in the way and use herself as a shield."

Cynder cut in, adding, "The nature of the beast is fascinating. The loss of blood from the attack detracted from the mass of the main creature, so when its attack failed, the spent blood animated itself and became a smaller version of the creature's true form, which ran away and merged back with the main mass."

"Hmm, that _is _fascinating," replied Yarrow as he scratched a spot under his chin. "We'll have to conduct a search of the city much like we did for Arragor so that we may find and subdue it. I would prefer to have the opportunity to study it, but destroy it if necessary. It is a product of Xath's Amophis powers and therefore a potential threat to any who encounter it.

"However, as important as that is, I feel that there is one more matter to review. Can anyone tell me how those children knew where to look for Zar and why Spire is in prison? I assume the two are connected."

After a quick account of what happened from the other elders, Yarrow got up and said, "Alright then. You go ahead and begin the search for the creature. I am going to have a chat with our Fire Master."

XXX

"Hey! Over there! I think I saw something."

The creature hissed and slid further into the shadows. Those dragons. They had been hunting him for hours. The creature crept through the alleys in an attempt to escape their sweep of the city. It was too dangerous to stay in one spot for too long, but moving around caused problems too. Just like now. The infection had dashed from the shadows of one building to another's, but a passing dragon on one of the main streets had seen the movement out of the corner of his eye and called for backup.

"What is it, Noh?"

"I saw something moving in that alley."

"Alright, let's check it out, but be careful."

The black dragon and the large, forest colored one made their way down the side street with slow deliberation. They were blocking the exit, and there wasn't much behind the creature to hide behind. After a quick search, it found a drain leading to the sewers beneath the city. Perfect. The red dragon liquefied itself and ran through the metal grate before solidifying several feet below. Up above, it heard both of the dragons arguing.

"I could have sworn I saw something."

"It's alright, let's just keep looking."

"I'm telling you, Terrador, there was something over here."

"Well, if there was, it's gone now."

"But there's nowhere for it to go."

"Spyro said it was extremely versatile. Maybe it climbed the walls."

"Don't you think we would have seen that?"

"It doesn't matter, Noh," said Terrador in an aggravated tone. "Let's just go."

"Fine."

The sound of footsteps quickly faded into the distance, leaving the creature alone with nothing but the quiet sound of the trickling waters that lapped at the walls of the tunnel. After a few seconds, the creature started to wonder what its next course of action should be. Up until now it had been following its most basic, natural instincts, survive and infect, but now that it was safe and there was a being capable of undoing its hard work loose in the city, it would have to come up with a new purpose. What was the plan?

After a moment of thought, it opened its mind to get a feel for what the Creator desired most. In no time at all, the Creator's thoughts echoed softly inside the creature's head. "_Man I'm bored. I wish there was someone to talk to._"

The creature pondered this new information. The Creator desired companionship. With a determined nod, the creature acknowledged its necessity to fulfill the wishes of the Creator. The new mission was to escape this city and find him. The living infection closed its eyes and let its instincts guide it. After a few seconds, it felt a slight tugging sensation. It's eyes popped open and stared down the tunnel. _That way._

It dashed through the seemingly endless maze of tunnels that wormed their way under Warfang like a senseless network of aqueducts. It was too bad the Creator wasn't fully in touch with the creature. That prevented the infection from conversing with him from here. Since it couldn't reach through the Creator's mental barriers to speak directly to him, the infection-creature dashed through the sewers. As it ran, it thought of what had happened just a few hours ago. That purple dragon was almost at its mercy, but that white dragon had gotten in the way. At first, this seemed like a minor inconvenience, but once the bloodling returned to it, it realized that it came bearing an invaluable gift. The corruption strain that had almost been eradicated was inside that dragoness, and that little bit of contact was all that was needed to accept the unique strain inside the creature. Now that it carried this powerful weapon, the infection felt a sense of duty to keep it alive and take it to the Creator where it would be safe.

The blood dragon was only a few hours old, but it was gaining knowledge at an exponential rate due to its ability to know all that the Creator had learned over the span of his life. Movement and physical strength had developed immediately. Total control over cognition and language came in less than five minutes. The purple dragon had asked who the creature was, but it didn't know how to answer that. It wasn't born into a situation that gave it a sense of identity; it was the spawn of some diseased, old dragon. As the blood dragon zipped through the tunnels, it started to think of a name for itself. No . . . himself.

His sixth sense kept pulling him through the tunnels and down paths that forked off into several other trails. Had he been a normal dragon, he probably wouldn't have felt the presence of a creature in the tunnel ahead, but his finely tuned senses picked it up from nearly a mile away. As he neared it, he liquefied and allowed the waters to carry him through the tunnel and right under the feet of the mole who was none the wiser. _This must be where the moles live._ When the blood dragon was past the furry, little creature, he solidified and kept running. After a while, he felt more of the moles around him. He realized that he was probably coming up on their underground city and figured that a meeting with one of them was inevitable.

The path he was following led him to a lone mole. He jumped when he saw the dragon step around the corner. "What the— You scared me half to death. Oi, what are you doing down here? We don't see many dragons below the surface."

Not missing a beat, the blood dragon replied in a smooth voice he synthesized to be calming, "I'm trying to find a path down here leading to the edge of the city or perhaps even a location outside Warfang."

The mole looked him up and down and scratched his chin in thought. "Hmm, in a bit of trouble, are you? I got into my fair share of trouble when I was young. I suppose you just need a place to hide while the heat dies down. Don't worry, I know a route leading to a drain off about a mile outside the city walls. I'll lead the way. By the way, my name's Alabaster. What's yours?"

The creature smiled and replied, "Helix. The name's Helix."

"Well met, Helix. Alright, it's this way then."

Helix tried to walk behind the furry mole, but Alabaster slowed down until he was beside him, then matched his pace. "So what did you do to have to disappear for a while?"

Mulling the question over for a bit, Helix finally replied, "I guess you could say that I did something that got the whole city riled up. They're pretty much sick of me now, so it's time for me to leave for a while."

Alabaster couldn't imagine what one kid could do to get an entire city mad at him, especially a huge one like Warfang, so he glanced at Helix with curiosity. After a moment to consider questioning him further, he decided to drop the subject, sensing that it was a tender one. "So where will you go once you've left the city? The world's a big place out there."

"I know a place where I'll be taken care of. No one will ever find me there."

"Sounds like you've got a plan. Good luck to you, Helix, but don't be gone for too long. People only stay mad for so long, and you don't want them to start missing you."

Helix just laughed on the inside at this and nodded. "Right."

They kept walking through the tunnels in silence for a while before Alabaster spoke up again. "You know, while I spend most of my time down here like everyone else, I've been to the surface a few times. I don't see too many dragons like you up there. You're one of those fear dragons, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Interesting. Have you been doing your part to prepare for the war?"

"Sure."

"We moles sure have been. Can you keep a secret?"

"You bet."

Alabaster looked around to see if there were any other moles nearby, then leaned in toward Helix a bit. "We moles have been working on a surprise down here for the dragons. It's quite possibly the greatest feat of engineering we've ever undertaken, and when it's complete, we'll _really_ have something to defend the city with."

Now Helix perked up. If these moles had a secret weapon to use against the Creator and his friends then he should find out as much about it as possible. "Really? A surprise, you say? What kind of surprise might that be?"

Alabaster scratched his head and replied, "I really shouldn't tell you about it. Like I said, it's a secret. It's not done yet and once we _do _complete it we'll have to test it out to make sure it works. We don't want to offer false hope to your people in case the device doesn't live up to our expectations."

"Oh, come on. You can tell me. I won't tell anyone. Where I'm going, there aren't a whole lot of people to tell."

"Sorry mate. My lips are sealed. If I told you the specifics, I would be breaking an oath I took so that I could work on the project, but I can tell you this. If the secret weapon works the way we hope it will, it will change more than the tide of this war. Magic is great and all, but we moles have made huge strides with technology down here these past few years. It's almost time for us to reveal the secrets we've unlocked, and once we do, magic will have to stand aside to recognize the might of science."

"Sounds fascinating," replied Helix slowly. His search through his knowledge for information on this 'science' came up with very little. Apparently, it was something all dragons knew the moles to be skilled at, yet it was a subject of mystery to all others.

Alabaster rambled on, oblivious to Helix's thoughts. "I know! I'm so excited! We have all of our best scientists working on it, and at the rate we're going, it should be operational in less than a month's time. Well, here we are. This tunnel will take you all the way to the exit outside the city. Good luck, and be careful out there."

"Thank you for the assistance, and as for that secret weapon. . ." Helix placed a paw on Alabaster's shoulder and allowed a small drop of blood containing both strains to fall upon him. "Keep me posted."

Alabaster laughed and asked, "How would I do that? Even if I was allowed, I have no idea where you're going."

"Trust me, you'll figure it out in a few hours, and when you do, I want you to contact me immediately."

Helix walked away, leaving a very confused mole behind him. "Huh? I . . . I'm afraid I don't understand. Hmph, dragons. What mysterious creatures." Alabaster turned around and walked back through the tunnels the way they came.

Helix smirked as he made his way down the last tunnel. He started running again, dashing through the water at speeds impossible for any other creature. The combination of both strains made him better in every way. Now that Alabaster was infected, he had a mole on the inside that no one would suspect. It wouldn't be long until he had what he wanted from the foolish mole. After a few minutes of running, he saw a small pinprick of light in the distance. It quickly grew into the large, open mouth of a pipe that let the water drain off into a muddy ravine.

The crimson dragon crawled out of the pipe, swam through the murky water that pooled in the dip below, and climbed up the incline to reach level ground. Once he reached the top, he took a look around. Ahead to the north was a large, grassy field that eventually led to the edge of a large wooden area. To the east were jagged mountains that sported steep cliffs dropping off into a giant river that flowed through the crags. Off into the west was a long expanse of dusty roads leading to what looked like a sun baked desert that stretched past the horizon.

Helix closed his eyes and felt for the Creator. Images flashed before him at lightning speed. He witnessed fields of crystals as far as the eye could see. There were dark, oppressive clouds that occasionally gleamed with the brief, haunting flicker of concealed lightning. A foreboding fortress stood tall and proud in the middle of the whole scene, and there, in the room at the top of the central tower, lay the Creator. The image zoomed out of vision and the world rushed back to Helix. He opened his eyes and allowed the final sensations to come over him. As the images left him, a dull, pulsing feeling seemed to originate in the west. Helix looked over his shoulder to regard the walls of Warfang, now mostly surrounded with quite formidable defenses. Then he turned his attention to the desert and took off at top speed.


	22. Chapter 21 Saboteur

Chapter 21- Saboteur

The vast majority of the elders left Cyril's house to hunt down the creature that had left the Ice Master in such a sorry state he couldn't even move. Cyril stayed behind to recover from his ordeal as per Yarrow's orders. Wither's friends were sent to the barracks to see if Wylee needed any help with his people. The cheetahs' lack of magic made the damage done to them from the Amophis powered disease slower to heal. Nodding with approval as everyone set out to perform their tasks, Yarrow took Wither with him to Warfang's Apogee Security Prison, known to all who lived in Warfang as the WASP.

They reached the building, which was crafted from the blackest onyx, making it a dark and foreboding place. Upon entering the facility they made an immediate right and headed down a set of stairs that led to a dim prison block. The air was dank down here, reeking of mold and standing water that had probably been stagnant since before Wither hatched. A steady dripping could be heard from an indiscernible location somewhere nearby, the only noise save the light tapping of Wither and Yarrow's claws. They had to strain to see the path ahead. Weak lanterns flickered in their sockets set in the walls, struggling to burn through the moist darkness.

All of the cells they passed were empty, a testament to the general good behavior of the citizens of Warfang. However, as they neared the end of the hall, a tiny silhouette materialized from out of the shadows. When Wither squinted even harder, he realized that he was looking at a mole. The furry creature raised his head as the sound of scales scrapping against stone caught his attention. He turned to Yarrow and gave a bow, saying, "Ah, Yarrow. I thought you had been killed. That must just be an underground rumor. It's good to see you're still with us."

"Thank you for the concern, but as you can see, I am quite alright."

Placing his hands on the ground to support himself, the mole rose to his feet and straightened up before brushing himself off. "I assume you've come to see the prisoner?"

"You assume correctly."

The mole raised his keys and asked, "Do you want me to unlock the cell?"

Yarrow glanced at the bars to the right and replied, "Not just yet. I'd like to have a word with him first."

"Of course." The mole rapidly slid his keys across the bars of the cell and called out, "Wake up. You have visitors."

A figure at the back of the cell gave a grunt and shuffled to its feet before making its way to the bars where its face crept into the soft half-light. The tired, glassy-eyed expression that plagued Spire's visage quickly morphed into one of horror as he backed away, shouting, "No! No, it can't be! You've come back to haunt me! I'm sorry I told them where he was! I just wanted my son to love me! Please don't drag me into the other world!"

"Spire, calm down."

The Fire Master had backed up against the far wall of the cell again in his terror, but he fell silent as Yarrow spoke. Wither regarded Spire with a degree of disgust and said, "Get ahold of yourself. You're an elder for crying out loud."

After hearing this, Spire turned to Wither and walked back to the bars, leaning down to Wither's level to hiss, "You. This is all _your_ fault. My son wouldn't be where he is now if you hadn't put your evil lie of a power inside him. You're a thief! Nothing but a no good thief! You stole his power and, in doing so, freed the Dark Master. It's all your fault!"

Yarrow rose up and shouted, "Spire! You hold your tongue. And as for you, Wither, you'll not speak to an elder in that tone." Both Spire and Wither glared at one another through the bars, but obeyed Yarrow's commands. The ancient flapped his wings several times and folded them down again to get comfortable. Turning back to Spire, he said, "Is it Wither's fault the Dark Master is free? I'll hold him to a third of the blame, for it was his power that released Malefor from his prison. However, Wither wasn't the one who gave it to him. Not even you can deny that your son earned what he did to him. His punishment was a long time coming. He was cruel to his peers and you knew it, yet you did nothing. Arragor's attitude and his outlook on life is no doubt what made up his mind to free the Dark Master, so a third of the blame falls to him."

"Do you know who the final piece of the fault falls on? The one who raised him. You're just as guilty as Wither is. The only reason why you're behind bars and he's not is because you would yield to your own son and thus the Dark Master in an attempt to win him over when you're the one who failed him in his upbringing in the first place. In doing this, you caused further destruction in our city, allowed the Fearsome Four to join forces, and brought about my death. You're just lucky I was able to use my powers to make another body for myself. That's how I stand here now."

Spire lowered his head, clearly shamed by Yarrow's scorn. After a moment, he looked up again and asked, "Why have you come here?"

"To offer you a second chance. I like to think I'm a fair and forgiving dragon. You made a critical error in helping Arragor, but I'm willing to look past that and forgive you as long as you promise me you'll never do anything like that again. These are dark times, Spire. You can't help both sides; you have to make a choice. Let me tell you a secret. When Ignitus passed away, I was the one who nominated you to be the next Fire Master. I saw something in you that the other candidates failed to demonstrate. When you feel something, you feel it with every fiber of your being. This makes you quick to anger and a little slower than others to use your better judgment at times, but it also makes you a most reliable ally. You're in here because you have given us a reason to believe that your loyalty, that quality for which you were ultimately elected, is in question. If you plan on being our foe, then you're too dangerous to set free. However, if you promise me you'll at least leave the fight should Arragor show up, then I'll let you out. So tell me, Spire, what's it going to be?"

Spire shuffled in place, shifting his weight from one paw to the other as Yarrow explained his options to him. Once Yarrow was finished, Spire asked, "How do you know I won't lie to you?"

"I'm a life dragon. I can read your mind."

"What if I change my mind later?"

"Then you'll have to answer to me," replied Wither, not bothering to clear it with Yarrow first.

Spire's temper flared up again and he spat, "Insolent whelp!"

Wither raised an eyebrow and replied, "Eh, maybe. That could be a matter of opinion. But at least I'm not a traitor to my race."

Spire's retort was interrupted as Yarrow grabbed Wither under the belly and lifted him up in the air by a single paw, stopping when he was at eye level with the Life Master. Lowering his head by a nearly unnoticeable margin, Yarrow stared Wither right in the eyes and quietly said, "I told you to stifle your disrespect. Spire knows what he did. We all do. I'll not allow you to waste harsh words on someone so revered. Remember his place, but more importantly, remember yours. I have the final say here, and I say that you need to put a stopper on your arrogance before I tamp it for you."

Wither nodded in response, his voice cracking as he replied, "I'm sorry, Yarrow."

Satisfied, Yarrow set Wither back down and turned to regard Spire with an appraising look. "If you change your mind, I will spread Gaia's Net across the whole of the world. With my mind connected to the entire planet, no haven will shelter you from my gaze. I will find you. I will cease your life force. And I will wring it out of you until your body is but a brittle husk, a monument to the folly of your betrayal."

Spire raised his head and slowly brought it down once to indicate that he understood. "Very well. Let me out of here. I haven't seen sunlight in so long. How long has it been?"

Yarrow quietly replied, "Four days," before turning his attention back to the mole. "Alright, Quantus. Let him out."

"Will do." Quantus dug into one of his pockets and procured his set of keys. He placed the correct key in the lock and gave it a turn. With a clink, the door swung open and a small flash briefly lit up the area, indicating that the additional magical barrier had been dropped.

Spire stepped out of his cell and stretched his limbs as if he could only now finally move. "What now?"

Yarrow gestured with his head down the hall and replied, "Now you can go home. Enjoy your freedom, get some fresh air and a little sunlight. I'll call you if you are needed."

Suddenly, the earth trembled beneath their feet and a rumbling could be heard below. Spire looked around and asked, "Another attack?"

"I don't think so," replied Wither. "I don't feel any Amophis."

"Perhaps an earthquake?" guessed Yarrow.

The next thing they heard was a static crackling. After a few seconds, they realized that it was coming from the mole's pocket. He pulled out a small device that began to speak to him. "Quantus! Come in, Quantus! This is Onyx! Come in, Quantus!"

Quantus pushed a tiny button on the object in his hand and hurriedly replied, "Quantus here. What happened?"

"We were just working on the shock coils and Project Reconciler misfired! It's caused massive collateral damage down here! We need all the help we can get!"

"Don't worry, I'm on my way!" Quantus jammed the device in his pocket and started to rush away, saying, "I have to go."

Yarrow stopped him with a gentle paw and asked, "What's going on? What's that thing in your pocket, and what's this Project Reconciler? Are your people in danger?"

"Uh . . . it's a surprise. Don't worry, we can handle this by ourselves. I really need to go now. Bye!" The little mole skittered into a crevice in the far wall leading underground before Yarrow could say another word and left the dragons alone in the prison block.

"Hmm, looks like the moles are working on something big down there. I hope they're alright. It sounded like something terrible happened."

Wither looked down at the ground then back up to Yarrow and said, "Well, whatever it is, it felt like it just blew up half the catacombs. I can't imagine what could have caused such an intense earthquake like that."

Yarrow shook his head and replied, "The moles may not wield the powerful magic that is instilled in us from the moment we are born, but they're so intelligent they've been known to build some pretty impressive things. Take Warfang for example. I have a feeling that the moles have been preparing for the war in their own special way. Whatever they have to offer us, it felt like they were breaking the world apart. I hope they finish it soon. We'll need all the help we can get if Malefor and the Fearsome Four attack us simultaneously. Come on, let's get out of here. This place is depressing."

They ascended the steps leading out of the grim confines of the dungeon and walked out into the afternoon sun, squinting a bit as their eyes adjusted to the brightness. Spire had a bit more trouble getting used to the light, especially since the day was cycling through the late golden hours when the sun cast the brightest of rays upon the land, but he held his head down and made his way home, leaving Yarrow and Wither standing in the doorway. Once he was gone Wither asked, "So what now?"

Yarrow smiled down at Wither and suggested, "Perhaps your friends could use some help with the cheetahs."

"Alright, sounds good to me."

They started on their way toward the barracks, and as they walked Yarrow shook his head in exasperation. "You silly youngling. Traitor or not, an elder's an elder. I can't let you talk to either of us like that."

"I know, Yarrow," replied Wither with a sigh as he looked away.

Seeing that he had made his point, Yarrow changed the subject. "So . . . Wither. Do you remember the day Malefor killed my old body?"

Wither looked down at the ground and watched the cracks in the stone pass beneath his paws. "I'll never forget that day. . . Never."

"I'm sorry it was so hard on you. You know I didn't do that to hurt you."

With a sigh, Wither tossed his head back and looked up into Yarrow's eyes to reply, "Yeah, I know. I just figured, if no one else, you would tell _me_ about your plan."

With a nod, Yarrow quietly replied, "Perhaps you're right. But I played it safe instead."

Wither stared up at the clouds and watched them pass in front of the sun. As he enjoyed a moment of cool shade, he replied, "Well, when you put it that way, I'm glad things turned out the way they did."

"As am I." Another moment of silence crept by between the two dragons before Yarrow continued. "Wither, tell me . . . do you remember what happened after I died?"

Thinking back, all Wither could remember was a haze, like someone had taken the memory and smeared everything together, mixing sounds with sights and scents with feelings. Shaking his head, he replied, "No, it all runs together. I guess I was so upset, I just went insane for a few minutes. Everyone says I fended off the Fearsome Four and Malefor all by myself, but I wasn't strong enough to stop them from getting away."

Yarrow stared at Wither in anxious wonder. When the youngling was done, Yarrow said, "What you did was very . . . unique. I want to know more about this Hypoactive state of yours I've heard so much about."

"Like what?"

"Well, your mother and father mentioned it to me earlier. Tell me, do you think this is your form of a fury attack?"

"It has to be. The pain I felt when Malefor killed you is what triggered it."

"Do you think you could do it again?"

Wither cocked his head in thought for a moment, contemplating the idea. "I don't know. I don't think so. I've never felt like I did at that moment. While inducing my own Hypoactive state could prove useful, it's something that would also prove difficult to accomplish. The only other time I did it was when Malefor made me do it the day Arragor attacked us for the first time. Until this second instance, I didn't know it was something I could do on my own."

Sighing quietly, Yarrow replied, "That may be best."

Wither raised an eyebrow at Yarrow and inquired, "Why's that?"

"Because I don't know what kind of fury it is. Let me teach you a very important lesson, Wither. There are different kinds of fury. First, there are the elemental furies that all dragons can release in a pulse that pushes outward in all directions from their bodies. This is a perfectly normal gift that, while easier to summon under times of extreme stress, is available to all dragons at all times. With the right amount of training, effort, and or motivation, any dragon can do it. This kind of attack is special because not only is it impossible to dodge at close range and quite powerful, it doesn't drain us of our elemental energy. Not even a little bit."

Wither's eyes went wide at this and asked in surprise, "How can that be? You always said you can't get something from nothing."

Shrugging his shoulders, Yarrow grinned and replied, "It's one of the greatest mysteries concerning our people, right up there with how red crystals can miraculously heal our bodies."

"Huh . . . well then, what's the other kind of fury?"

Yarrow kept walking without saying anything. For a moment, Wither thought he hadn't heard him, but when he looked up to ask Yarrow again, the look on the ancient's face made him close his mouth and stare straight ahead in silence. After several seconds, Yarrow said, "I don't know what it is, to be honest." Several more seconds of silence followed this statement before he decided to continue. "But whatever it is, it's like a poison."

Wither dared a quick sideways glance up at Yarrow and quietly muttered, "What kind of poison?"

"The kind of poison that corrupts the soul."

Now Wither understood what Yarrow was referring to. "Oh! You mean the Purple Dragon's Convexity Fury."

Yarrow stopped and looked down at Wither with contemplating eyes. "Do you realize that every time your mother and father tap into that power, they forfeit a piece of their very souls for it?"

Wither's jaw fell open and he stared back at Yarrow in horror at this revelation. "Do you mean that figuratively or—"

"No. I mean it literally. The more they use that dark magic, the more of their essence, the part of them that makes them who they are, is eaten away and lost forever."

"That's . . . that's awful! Why do they even use it all?"

"Because the lure of ultimate power is too great, even for them sometimes."

Shocked at this, Wither asked, aghast, "So they trade their souls for power?" _And so it is that those who would chase this power shall fall away to it, delving deeper into the abyss they forge with their avarice and malcontent with the abilities of the self. Let he or she who holds the key that links the worlds find inner peace and know satisfaction with what providence has granted them, lest they despair and die._

Yarrow nodded and replied, "Yes, such is the curse of the Purple Dragon. Your parents don't use it much, so the changes it makes in them are slow and subtle, but I can see the traces of corruption in their eyes. It's like a tiny shadow of themselves gathering behind the irises. I don't want to frighten you, Wither, but you should know the truth. Don't worry about it too much. They're good dragons and will most likely not allow themselves to become fully corrupted."

Wither gave a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank the ancestors. For a minute there I thought you were telling me that I was going to have to face losing my parents to the power of Convexity. So, how's that fury different than that of any of the other elements?"

Yarrow slowly looked away and started walking again. "It isn't just released in a pulse. It clings to you . . . changes you . . ."

"How does it change you?"

"It covers you in its power and clouds your mind with anger and hatred."

"Okay, so it makes the user all black and shadowy with those white eyes, but the anger is normal, right? I mean, it _is_ fury."

"No, the anger is of the user every step of the way for normal fury, but the dark fury is only _triggered_ by the user's pain. After that, it begins to corrupt, to pour foreign hatred into the user's soul, trying to coax them into using it more and making it difficult to stop. It's like the power has a mind of its own that wishes to fully corrupt the user."

Wither considered the information Yarrow presented to him before lifting his head with a tiny realization. "How do you know so much about it?"

"Because I've watched it happen before."

"Oh, right. My parents."

A darker tone slipped into Yarrow's voice as he replied, "No, Wither, I'm not talking about your parents." Wither looked at Yarrow and thought about the exchange between him and Malefor just a few days ago. Yarrow continued, interrupting his thoughts. "Wither, normal fury doesn't change the way you look. Your parents told me about the way your Hypoactive state changes you."

Now the lull in the conversation was on Wither's end. He clawed the stone a little harder with each step as he considered everything Yarrow told him. "You think it corrupts me, too."

"I don't know. It's not Convexity, but the similarities to it in this respect are too unsettling."

"Don't worry, Yarrow. I'm sure it's just that my power is unique. You don't _know _that it taints me."

"I know. I just don't want you taking a chance on it. Promise me you won't allow yourself to go Hypoactive again unless your life depends on it."

Wither gave Yarrow a worried glance. "But it was the only way I was able to fend off Malefor. Without it I might not be able to— "

"It doesn't matter. You are just a youngling. Malefor is not _your_ problem. Your parents and I are the only ones powerful enough to stand against him, and you saw how I faired in my bout with him. Without this power, you would never stand a chance against him. That's why there has to be a catch to your ability. It's incredible. You shouldn't have been able to prove that potent against him. It has left your parents and I baffled. That's why I ask you to promise me you won't use it unless you have to."

Giving in, Wither raised his paws and replied, "Okay, Yarrow. I promise."

"Thank you, Wither. I just love you too much. I don't want to lose you again."

"Again?"

"I mean . . . I just . . . I don't want to lose you, especially to that corrupting fury."

"Hmm . . . okay."

The barracks loomed into view and after a few more minutes, they entered the crowded building. The first one to see them was Renna. She gave the cheetah she was hunched over a pat on the arm and hurried over. "Wither, Yarrow! It's good to see you here. There's not much we can do to help them. Maybe you can offer more assistance, Yarrow."

Yarrow raised his head to regard the rows of cots before him. Cheetahs rested on them, trying to crane their heads to see Yarrow. He smiled and said with a hum of pleasure, "I'd be happy to help. If I'm not mistaken, these cheetahs just need a little boost and they'll be good to go, right? Well, I don't have much to offer, but I think I can divvy up enough energy between them to get them on their feet and keep me on mine."

Yarrow slowly but surely made his made through one row of cots and back down the other, brushing the cheetahs with his wings tips as he passed. As he was finishing up his trip, the first of the furry bipeds to feel his rejuvenating touch began to rise from their beds and stretched the stiffness out of their limbs. By the time Yarrow was done it was clear that all of the cheetahs were going to be okay.

Hunter rose from his cot and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before wearily tilting his head up to gaze upon the source of his newfound strength. His hand fell from his face as he stood up quickly. "Yarrow! You're alive? But how?"

Yarrow gestured to Wither and his friends, saying, "They will explain it to you. I've already told them, and I don't like repeating myself."

Hunter nodded in understanding and turned to look for Wylee. When he found him standing amongst Wither's friends, he ran forward and gave his son a big hug. "Oh, my son! I'm so glad you're okay! It seems as though you were untouched by the disease. You're lucky."

Wylee stood in place while Hunter embraced him. When his father let go and saw the troubled look on his face, his enthusiasm dimmed. "Is everything alright?"

Wylee just shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms. "Good to see you on your feet again," he mumbled more to himself than anyone else.

A few moments of awkward silence passed before Hunter turned to Wither. "Thank you for curing my people of Pestilence's dreadful disease, Wither. You saved the lives of all my people and for that, we are forever grateful." Hunter then turned his attention back to Yarrow and said, "I must also thank you, Yarrow, for giving us what little strength you had so that we may skip the resting step of our recovery. So, when do we get that story describing how you're standing before me?"

Tera and Vera stepped forward and traded back and forth, explaining in fine detail how Yarrow had planned ahead of Malefor's arrival and cheated death. When they were done, the cheetahs all gaped in awe at the ancient dragon who smiled down at them in amusement at their surprise. Wylee stepped forward, lightly shoving away his father's hand as he passed him, and said, "Yet again, you dragons surprise me. What my father told me is true. You never cease to amaze."

Psy sauntered over to Wither and asked in his usual cool tone, "So how'd it go with our beloved Fire Master?"

A tiny scowl found its way onto Wither's face as he rolled his eyes a bit and replied, "He was grateful for the freedom, but it seems I have permanently fallen out of his favor. Apparently, this whole war and the current position of his son are entirely my fault."

"Eh, I guess I can kind of see that," replied Roxy before receiving a jolt from Elleca. "Ow! I was just saying it makes a little sense! It _is_ partially his fault, isn't it?"

"No! You're supposed to take Wither's side, Roxy!" huffed Elleca as sparks traveled between her horns.

Wither raised a paw and snuffed out the electrical charge in the air before speaking up. "No, it's okay, Elleca. I know it's partly my fault, but my part in it was an accident, whereas Arragor and Spire's were not."

Elleca smoothed down her scales as she addressed Wither in a calmer tone. "But the fact that you didn't mean to do anything makes you innocent, right? That's how I see it. You wouldn't have planted the seed that started this if you knew what was going to come of it."

Seeing the difference of opinion, Wylee stepped in and said in an explanatory voice, "I think what Wither is trying to say is that even though he didn't mean to start this, it's still partially his fault. However," Wylee quickly cut Elleca off before she could interject, "the fact that he _didn't_ mean to spark the war _does_ make him innocent and therefore exempt from punishment, much unlike your elder Spire."

"Oh," was Elleca's simple reply once she understood. She gave Roxy a rare apologetic smile and rubbed the twitching spot on his flank where she had zapped him.

"So," drawled Psy, gaining everyone's attention once more. "Did anyone else feel that crazy earthquake a few minutes ago? Wither? Yarrow? We sure did."

"Yeah, I actually heard what sounded like an explosion underground," replied Elleca as she pat the floor beneath her.

"You mean you felt that, too?" asked Wither in disbelief.

Renna nodded and replied with wide eyes, "It was pretty intense. I thought the ground was about to fall out beneath our feet for a few seconds."

"I wonder what could have caused it?" wondered Roxy as he poked the ground with a curious claw.

Now Yarrow cleared his throat and spoke. "Whatever it was, it involves the moles. They seem to be working on some sort of project, presumably in preparation for the war. The mole guarding Spire's cell spoke with some of his people on a strange device he had with him. Apparently, there's been an accident of some sort. The voice coming from the device said something about a misfire. They're keeping the specifics of their project a closely guarded secret, but the mole calling himself Onyx on that device revealed the name of it to be Project Reconciler."

"Re-con-ci-ler. Huh," thought Psy. Then he jokingly said, "Maybe they're resurrecting the Destroyer."

Renna shook her head and said with apparent concern, "Whatever it is, it must have caused incredible damage down there. Should we help them? They may need all the help they can get."

Yarrow shook his head and replied, "I think they would appreciate the thought, Renna, but Quantus told me in no uncertain terms that the moles wanted to resolve this problem on their own."

"Okay then," said Renna, throwing her paws up in defeat. "I hope they're alright down there. I wonder how bad it is?"

XXX

How could this have happened? That's what raced through the minds of all the moles in Mjölnir. Everything was collapsing in on them. Debris cascaded down from the cavern ceiling where a massive gap in a major support column now threatened everyone below. Though the column was too far out from the plateau that housed the whole of Mjölnir to endanger the city with the last bits of crumbling rock, the structural integrity of the entire foundation of Warfang was now compromised.

Everyone in the mole city shifted continuously from nervous glances to the decimated support column to narrowed eyed gazes at the secret weapon responsible for the damage. Moles from all over the surface city and throughout the labyrinthine tunnels beneath it were flocking to the massive hollow beneath Warfang where only the soft half-light of the moles' technology illuminated Mjölnir atop the giant outcrop in the center of the cave.

Huffing and puffing, going as fast as their little legs could carry them, many of them wondered how they could possibly fix this grave mistake. The naturally carved support columns holding Warfang above Mjölnir rose up hundreds of feet above even the highest point in the mole city, and the bases all lay far below in the darkening abyss. After several minutes, the last remnants of rock fell from the top section of the broken column, which now hung uselessly over the empty space above the lower section that rose up from the floor, trying in vain to reach the other protrusion.

There was no telling how much time they had to come up with something to prevent Warfang from falling on Mjölnir, effectively destroying both cities. For now, the other support columns were keeping Warfang in place, but the loss of this one would definitely make the whole thing unstable. Seeing as time wasn't on their side, everyone double timed it to the center of Mjölnir where the chief scientists were preparing to address the crowd gathering around them.

From the scaffolding that surrounded the secret weapon, one of the chiefs yelled, "Okay everyone, alright, quiet! We need order!"

From the panicking crowd below, someone shouted, "Order? How can you speak of order when everyone is about to be crushed? This is probably all _your_ fault, Onyx! You're in charge of the weapon!"

"Silence! We didn't even know it was operational yet! Something activated the firing sequence, but I assure you, it wasn't me!"

The accuser pointed a furry little finger up at the grand construct that loomed over the crowd and spat, "That thing is a mistake! It will be the death of us and our friends the dragons, not to mention the cheetahs! You built this thing to help with the war, but now look what it's done! I knew we weren't ready for this kind of power, but you had to go and build it anyway!"

"Enough!" This shout turned the heads of everyone both in the crowd and those up on the scaffolding around the weapon addressing them. The masses parted as the one who had silenced everyone with a word began to make her way through the gathering. She found a ladder and climbed up to the level where the lab chiefs stood. Once she reached the spot where everyone could see her, she turned to regard the leaders of the mole nation. Noticing two particular moles, she nodded once and said, "Hello Onyx, Alabaster."

The two brothers nodded in return before Onyx said, "Cass. Thank science you're here. Perhaps they'll listen to you." He gestured toward the crowd below.

Cass turned to face the moles, who now looked up to her, waiting patiently to hear what she had to say. She swept the crowd with her beady, pink eyes, making sure she wouldn't be interrupted. When she was satisfied, she began to speak. "Fighting about what caused this will do nothing but waste the precious seconds we need to fix it. For now, we need to focus on resolving the matter at hand. I have contemplated the problem on my way here and come up with one possible solution." Turning to one of the chiefs beside her, she asked, "Corbal, is the Polarion ready yet?"

The mole she addressed stepped forward and replied, "Just finished it last week, Miss Cass. Why do you ask?"

She pointed a finger at him and said in a matter-of-fact way, "Your little pet project is going to be our savior. Here's what we'll do everyone! Corbal has been using his free time to construct a cryo-based weapon system. We're going to use it to replace the missing section of the support column with a giant block of ice."

A mole stepped out of the crowd and made a humble bow, still facing the ground as he said, "No disrespect, Miss Cass, but isn't that only a temporary solution?"

"Indeed it is, but it will buy us time. This should act as a giant bandage until we can implore the aid of the dragons. I'm afraid that as grand as our science has become, we'll need the power of magic to procure a permanent solution."

Murmurs spread through the crowd for a moment before another mole stepped forward to ask, "But what about the weapon? It's clearly not ready yet. Even if we could somehow hide it, the dragons are going to ask how we took out a section of rock five hundred yards in diameter and blasted a crater in the cavern wall twice as large three miles away."

"Hmm, yes. They're definitely going to notice that. Oh well, it can't be helped. Either we have them help us or let both our cities crumble."

Onyx grabbed the railing in front of him and leaned toward the crowd. "Alright then. It's do or die. Corbal, where is this Polarion you've so conveniently constructed for us?"

Scratching the back of his neck, Corbal looked up and replied, "It's in my private work space in sublevel nine of Cryo Labs."

"How big is this thing? Will it fit in the Cryo Labs elevator?"

A grimace crept across Corbal's face before he said, "Mmm, maybe we should use the central elevator."

Onyx turned to face the chief scientists behind him and said, "I'll give my security clearance code to use the central elevator. What do you think everyone?"

The rest of the chiefs nodded and muttered in agreement except the one next to Onyx. "Alabaster, you oppose the use of the central elevator? Why, brother?"

Alabaster stared at his brother through his oculars, something Onyx noted as odd, seeing as they weren't on the surface where the light was too harsh for the eyes of moles. However, Onyx was too focused on his brother's decision to question his unusual use of his standard issue oculars. Alabaster crossed his arms and replied in a cool voice, "I'm not entirely certain the situation merits the use of the central elevator. We all agreed when we made it that it was only to be used in the most severe emergencies imaginable."

"For science's sake, Alabaster! What do you call this?"

"Are we really sure that Warfang will fall without just one of its support columns?"

Onyx stared at his brother in consternation before throwing his hands out and shouting, "What? Alabaster, you know that the estimated time Warfang can remain suspended without that particular support is no more than six hours. We did the calculations on that ourselves. It's not a matter of if but when Warfang falls if we don't use this Polarion to bridge the gap in the column. Corbal built this thing on his own by the sounds of it. He seems to know that the Cryo Labs elevator isn't big enough to bring it up here. We need the central elevator. Please, brother, give your security clearance code. The way to the central elevator won't open without all the codes from each lab's chief."

Alabaster seemed to ponder this request for a moment before he almost grudgingly said, "Alright, I'll do it."

Everyone on the scaffolding gave sighs of relief. Onyx clapped his hands together and said, "Corbal, we have the clearance. When can you move the device?"

"We need to do it now."

"Excellent, get down to Cryo Labs and prepare to open the way to the central elevator. Everyone else, you do the same in your labs. Alright, let's move! The clock is ticking people! Let's go, go, go!"

The crowd immediately moved to make pathways for the chiefs to head toward their respective laboratories. Several in charge of running Cryo Labs followed Corbal to help him move the Polarion. Watching the productivity in approval, Onyx turned to Cass and shook his head. "They always listen to you. That was pure madness before you showed up. Thanks for stepping in, Cass."

"Don't mention it," replied the distracted mole with a wave of her hand. "Shouldn't you be on your way to Ebon Labs?"

Onyx took a look around and saw that the other chiefs were already climbing down the scaffolding. Turning to Cass, he began to murmur something to her, causing her to divert her gaze from the damage to the column. "I think there's something wrong with Alabaster."

Cass peered over the railing as Onyx's younger brother made his way toward the entrance to Aero Labs. "I noticed he was acting strange. He's definitely not like himself. Perhaps it's just the stress of the current situation."

Shaking his head in disagreement, Onyx replied, "No, I don't think so. He came back from a walk in the tunnels about an hour ago, but he was acting different then, too. The other chiefs working on the project welcomed him back after his break, but he just waved at everyone and started climbing up the device."

Giving Onyx a slight frown, Cass asked, "Why was he climbing the weapon?"

Shrugging, Onyx cast his eyes to the metal grating beneath their feet and said, "I don't know. The only thing that needs work higher up is the . . . control deck . . ."

Raising one eyebrow, Cass turned her attention back to the figure below, calmly walking amidst the mass of urgently scrambling moles. "You don't think he did this, do you?"

Letting out a troubled sigh, Onyx replied, "He's my brother. And he's your best friend."

Raising a hand, Cass interjected, "No, you're both my best friends."

"At any rate, we've known him for almost fifty years. I don't know about you, but he's never once given me a reason to think he would do something this devastating, but his actions today suggest it."

"Did he give you any reason to think he was acting strangely before he came back from that walk in the tunnels?"

Thinking for a moment, Onyx shook his head and replied, "No. He was fine this morning."

Running a hand through her pearly hair, Cass hummed in thought, "Hmm, that is strange. Don't confront him about this just yet. I want to keep an eye on him to see if he shows any signs of more abnormal behavior. We don't have all the facts yet, so we don't want to potentially give out false accusations. Now move, Onyx. You need to get to sublevel nine of Ebon Labs and input your code for the elevator."

"Will do, Cass. See you in the elevator." Onyx climbed down the ladder and ran to Ebon Labs, the facility he was in charge of.

Cass, on the other hand, jumped off the platform and landed on her feet after the thirty foot drop, her custom made kinetic boots catching her fall. Once she straightened herself from her crouching position, she ran toward Aero Labs to catch up with Alabaster, using the kinetic energy stored up in the boots from the fall to give herself a tremendous boost of speed. Though the fastest speed of moles was no greater than three miles per hour, the new technology Cass wore around her legs allowed her to pass through the city at ten times that speed with ease.

In no time at all, she found her target and used her boots to slow her body down faster than she could have managed on her own by leaning her body away from the direction in which she was being carried. She skidded to a halt several feet away and jogged the last few steps to walk with him. "Hello, Alabaster."

Turning his head to the side, Alabaster looked her up and down before swiveling his gaze back to his path. "Hello, Cass. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I thought I would join you in Aero Labs."

"I'm sorry, but you don't have the clearance to get into Aero Labs, let alone sublevel nine. Aero Labs' greatest experiments and devices are kept down there."

Pretending to bump clumsily into Alabaster, Cass slowly replied, "Yeees, but you're the chief of Aero Labs. You can let me in."

Several seconds of silence followed this statement while Alabaster walked, appearing to think about it. After what Cass thought was an unusually long wait, he replied, "Very well."

Looking sideways, Cass tried to catch his eye, but noticed that he was still wearing his oculars. "Why don't you take your oculars off? There's no sunlight for them to filter down here, and you're not working on anything at the moment."

Though he remained outwardly calm, Cass noticed that Alabaster's hand twitched upward as if to touch the eye piece hiding the majority of his face. "No, that's alright. I would prefer to keep them on right now."

Reaching up, Cass said, "Come on. I want to talk to you face to face, not through the lenses of your—ah!"

Alabaster unexpectedly grabbed Cass by the wrist and jerked her hand away from his face, twisting her arm in the process and nearly flipping her over. "I said I want them on."

All uncertainty that something was off with Alabaster fled from Cass' mind now. "Alabaster! You're hurting me!"

The tiny hand that demonstrated far more strength than it ever had before released her. What was most frightening about the display was the fact that he never had to break his stride while he repulsed her attempt on his oculars. He just kept walking and almost blocked her move without so much as glancing at her. "Sorry about that."

"Sorry? You're sorry!? Purple dragons, Alabaster, you almost broke my arm! What's going on with you? What happened to the sweet mole I used to know?"

"The sweet mole you used to know?" asked Alabaster in his recently monotonous tone.

"Yeah, you know, the guy who would always wrestle with me when we were kids and couldn't so much as land a hit on me? You couldn't beat anyone in a fight, Alabaster, even if it was a real one. How did you get so strong, and why are you acting like a jerk?"

Answering the latter half of her question, Alabaster replied, "I don't know. Maybe it has something to do with being accused of blowing up the column by my own brother and best friend."

"What?" whispered Cass in quiet surprise. "How did you—"

"Hear you?" finished Alabaster with a grim smile. "I've recently acquired a highly sensitive auditory system."

"But you had to be a hundred yards away when we said that," retorted Cass in disbelief.

"Apparently, that's not out of my new and improved earshot."

"How did this happen?" inquired Cass, curiosity momentarily replacing her skepticism.

Continuing on his way, still looking straight ahead, Alabaster asked, "Can you keep a secret?"

"What kind of secret?" asked Cass, remembering her all too easily forgotten suspicions.

"A secret that can change the way we moles perceive the world forever."

"I'm not sure if I like where this is going."

"Imagine being able to hear the underground springs traveling through the cavern walls several miles away. Picture feeling the resulting vibrations of the footsteps of someone hundreds of yards away. Envision being able to smell the blood running through the veins of the one next to you, or being capable of tasting the metallic tinge in the air down here. What if you could see the whole of the cavern, no matter the light levels? Now I want you to imagine that you can lift fifty times your weight and put even the speed you reach with your kinetic boots to shame of your own accord. All these things are possible if you take the right . . . supplement. I've discovered something fantastic that does all of this for any given organism."

The abilities that Alabaster described to Cass enthralled her and temporarily made her forget about the throbbing pain in her wrist. If what he said was true then he had discovered something years ahead of their time. "Alright, you've sparked my interest, Alabaster. What could possibly do all of that for us?"

Allowing a faint smile to cross his face, Alabaster replied, "It's like a kind of drug that you only have to take once. Get this stuff in your system and it's there for good."

"That's interesting, to be sure, but what _is_ it, Alabaster?"

"Well. . ." Cass could tell he was reluctant to tell her, but before she could press him any further, a loud crack resounded through Mjölnir, causing all eyes to turn to the column. The weight of the upper section was pulling on the ceiling and causing stress fractures to begin their journeys from the giant burden outward toward the far reaches of the cavern walls.

Abandoning the previous conversation, Cass shouted, "Come on! We have to get to Aero Labs! The ceiling is weakening!" She took off toward the elevator that would carry them down under Mjölnir to the network of laboratories in the Aero Sector. Using her kinetic boots, she rocketed toward the edge of the city where the elevator was located. True to his word, Alabaster zoomed past her as nothing more than a blur. Cass let her jaw drop open as he approached what had to be sixty miles per hour.

After a few minutes of accelerated travel, Cass came to a halt at the elevator marked Aero Labs. Alabaster was already inside, leaning against the titanium wall and drumming his fingers against his thighs. "About time you showed up. I almost left without you."

"Oh stop it, Alabaster. You couldn't have beaten me by more than a minute. Now hurry up and take us down."

Taking his time, he removed a key card from his pocket and slid it through the slot next to the floor selection pad. All of the lights next to the buttons turned from red to green as he did so, and he pushed the one with a 9 on it, causing the doors to close and the elevator to dive deeper into the earth. "And away we go."

"Took you long enough," huffed Cass. "You've been acting very casual despite all the fuss over the ceiling coming down on us."

"I made up for it by running here."

"You weren't joking about your speed. I've seen cheetahs move like that when they need to. For a mole to run that fast is quite a feat. When this is all over, you must show me what you've been working on."

"Indeed," replied Alabaster, looking a bit distracted.

"Are you alright?" asked Cass, cocking her head at his troubled behavior.

He waved a paw at her and replied in a rather muffled voice, "I'm fine. I'm just thinking."

"Oh, okay." Cass decided to leave him to his thoughts, but kept an eye on him.

Alabaster cast his gaze to the floor and covered his mouth with a hand in thought like he always did, pressing his thumb to his cheek. "_Everyone has a plan to fix the damage. What do we do?"_

"_Do everything in your power to slow them down. Every second counts. Maybe if you stall long enough, the ground will collapse before anything can be done about it. Just remember that you let no one know about you. Having someone on the inside is imperative. Even if it means cooperating to fix the damage, don't give anyone enough reason to suspect you. Do you understand?"_

"_Yes, Helix."_

"_Good, and don't forget to find some recruits in secret."_

"_I'm already working on a prime candidate. She's perfect for the horde."_

"_Mmm, yes. According to your memories, Cass is an extremely intelligent and athletic mole with excellent leadership skills. The infection would magnify her abilities to pleasing levels and spread her knowledge among the horde. Hmm, horde. We can't really call it that yet. There aren't too many of us as of right now, but I've been spreading my seed across the land on my way to the Creator. In just a few short days I'll have a glorious army for him, as is his wish. Bringing about the destruction of Warfang and Mjölnir would only be a bonus."_

"_I'll do my best."_

"_See that you do."_

"_The Creator's will be done,"_ thought both to one another before they went back to their own tasks.

Alabaster looked back up, watching as Aero Labs passed by through the glass windows in the walls. Cass noticed that he appeared less preoccupied by his thoughts and turned her eyes to the windows as well. "This sure is one long elevator ride. We're passing what? Sublevel five now?"

"The ride wouldn't be so long if the labs weren't so huge."

"I just hope the time it takes for us to get down here and then back up doesn't cost us."

"Yes, that is most . . . unfortunate."

"Alabaster, how do _you_ think the weapon went off?"

Cass wished dearly that she could see her friend's face, but he kept it hidden with his oculars. Giving off no clear emotion, Alabaster replied, "You think I did it."

It wasn't a question, but rather a statement. Once the words left his lips, Cass found herself squirming uncomfortably against the opposing wall, which surprised them both, seeing as that was quite unlike her. "It's not that I think you did it, it's just . . . the only way it could have turned on is if someone activated the firing sequence from the control deck. Onyx told me you were the only one on the control deck today. I'm not blaming you, I just want to know if you noticed anything unusual up there. The Alabaster I know would never do anything like this; I'm just curious to know if you saw any clues that would point us to what started this."

Shaking his head, Alabaster replied, "I'm sorry, but there was nothing out of the ordinary up there."

Though she dreaded her next question, Cass pushed on. "Then why were you up there in the first place?"

"_She's on to you."_

"_Obviously. Don't worry. She's an old friend of mine. She trusts me."_

"Alabaster?"

Clearing his throat, he replied, "Sorry, I had a tickle in my throat. I was checking to make sure all of the circuits were connected properly and making sure that power flow was running smoothly. We just finished installing the battery yesterday, and I was worried that power flowing through faulty wiring would cause a short and damage the device."

"Oh, I see. I guess that explains that. Then what caused the machine to fire? I fear we may never know."

"Yes, unfortunately, I'm afraid you're right." As soon as he said this, the elevator came to a halt and issued a tiny ding to indicate their arrival. He looked through the window in the door and watched as it opened to reveal a hallway that was completely bare save a sign on the wall to the left that said Sublevel 9. At the end of the hall there were three doors. The one on the left sported a sign that labeled it as Alabaster's office and personal lab. The door to the right was shown to be the sublevel nine laboratories. However, both moles exited the elevator and made the trek down the hall toward the door that already faced them. The soles of their boots clicked noisily on the white tile underfoot in the silence of the underground corridor. The only other sound that met Cass' ears was the quiet buzz of the florescent lights that hung above them.

Once they reached the end of the hall, they stopped and stared at the massive door in front of them. To the right of the heavily plated vault of a door was a unique panel. There was another slot to swipe a card and a number pad next to it. Beside these things was a diagram of a circle with twelve lights evenly arranged in the circumference. Most of them shone green, but three of them were still red. Cass studied the display and said, "Looks like we beat a few of the other chiefs to the elevator doors. Go ahead and input your code. The other two should be along shortly. Oh, look. There goes another. Just you and one more. Let's see here . . . it looks like Corbal is still preparing the Polarion."

Taking his time, Alabaster removed his key card from his pocket once more and swiped it through the slot. Once this was done, the number pad lit up and the computerized voice of a woman came from nowhere, stating, "Primary security code accepted. Please input secondary security code to continue."

Tapping his chin in thought, Alabaster stared at the number pad and said almost to himself, "Now what was that security code again?"

Cass threw her hands up, shouting, "What!? You mean you don't even remember your own security code for the elevator!? Argh! Why does it even need two codes? What? The fact that it needs the approval of every chief isn't security enough? Of all the convoluted. . ." Taking a deep breath, Cass let out a sigh and held her hands out. "No, can't get too worked up now. Panicking will only slow us down. Alabaster, please tell me you remember the code."

"Uh. . ."

"Well, we can't wait here for you to try and remember it. Did you write it down anywhere in case you forgot?"

"Yes, it's in my computer in my office."

"Then let's go get it."

Turning to the door on their left, Alabaster used his card to open the door to his office. "In case you were serious about that question, the secondary security code is there in the event that one or more of the chief's key cards are stolen."

"Couldn't the thief just look for it in your computer?"

"First, they would have to know it's in there. Then, they would need the password to open my files. Finally, they would need to know what file to look in."

"You know all of _that,_ right?"

Giving Cass a pat on the back and a light chuckle, Alabaster replied, "Oh, Cass. I'm not an idiot."

"I didn't say you were."

"I'd have to be a fool not to remember the password to my own computer, and you know how organized I am. I'm the same way with my data files."

"Good. At least we'll have it soon then. Hurry up."

Cass followed Alabaster into the room. It was a circular chamber no more than fifty feet across. To the right of the entrance was a massive shelf filled with a veritable assortment of tools and devices. Against the far wall was a generator, which was hooked up to an odd mechanism in the middle of the room. Cass assumed it was Alabaster's latest pet project much like the others that all the chiefs worked on in their private labs. To the left was a rather large work bench littered with parts and a desk where a computer sat. Had anyone else looked at the mess, they might have concluded that whoever worked here was a slob, but Cass knew that compared to the personal work spaces of the other chiefs, this place was immaculate.

She stood by the desk as Alabaster sat down and logged in. "This will just take a moment."

"One would only hope."

"_You're doing well, Alabaster. Is there anything else you can do to stall them any longer?"_

"_Not that I know of. Conveniently 'forgetting' the password is the only unsuspicious thing I can come up with. Well, that and collecting Cass now, but even if I have her join us now, I won't be able to explain why it's taking me so long to unlock the elevator. Everyone will figure out I'm against them."_

"_Hmm, proceed with the preparations to fix the damage you've done then. Remember, secrecy is priority one. If you can't bring down our enemies, there are others who will do so."_

"_Yes, Helix."_ Allowing himself a smile, Alabaster said, "Ah, yes. There it is. I can't believe I forgot such an important number."

Cass placed her hands on the desk and leaned down to peer at the screen. Slowly turning to face her friend, she asked, "My birthday? Really, Alabaster?"

Raising his palms, Alabaster smiled and replied, "What? You're an old friend, and I figured it was less predictable than my birthday."

"Not that. I'm flattered that you made my birthday your password, but I'm appalled that you forgot it."

"Relax. I didn't forget your birthday. I forgot the password_ was_ your birthday."

"I don't care! We're wasting time with pointless banter! Let's just go." As they left the room, she mumbled, "How did you forget that it was my birthday, anyway?"

"We never use the central elevator."

Cass let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah, I guess I have to give you that one. Just use the code and open the door." Upon reaching the door out in the hall, Cass pointed at the panel and added, "Even Corbal is ready. Everyone's waiting on you."

The chief typed the code in with a tiny finger before tapping the enter key. A moment of silence ensued before it was followed by a voice that announced, "Code acquisition confirmed. Welcome, Chief Alabaster. All security codes have been submitted. Please stand by while the lock cycles."

A loud hissing noise followed this automated message, and the sound of bolts sliding through the walls could be heard. Then, after several seconds of silence, the door slid back into the wall, revealing a gigantic tunnel so long it appeared to taper off into infinity. Cass let out a gasp and said, "Tell me we don't have to walk."

"Nonsense. Just wait for a moment."

"For what?"

Alabaster held a finger in the air for patience, to which Cass almost gave a sharp retort, but before she could think of a way to articulate how dangerous it was to keep wasting time, a low, whirring sound could be heard echoing down the tunnel. She turned her attention to the cavernous opening once again to see that something was racing toward them at fantastic speed. It got louder as it caught up to them before slowing to a stop with a hydraulic hiss. Upon its arrival, Cass turned to Alabaster and said, "Well, that's handy.

He held out a paw to the platform that now rested on the track in front of them. "Ladies first." Following her onto the platform, he made his way toward a tiny control panel attached to the railing on the other side. The construct was spacious enough to place an entire city block on, so the journey took him a couple minutes, which irked Cass further, considering the fact that he could have gotten there much faster if he ran. When he finally reached the panel, he tapped a few keys and they were on their way.

The tunnel zipped by at top speed. It only took a few seconds for the illusion of endlessness to open up and show them where they were headed. Eventually, the tube came to an end and they entered a vast, circular chamber with a tiny construct on a stationary platform in the middle of the room. The other end of the chamber had to be five miles away by Cass' reckoning, and all around the room at regular intervals were openings for the platforms conveying the other chiefs from their labs. The arcing ceiling formed a massive dome around them, the top of which was too dark to see. Below was a barren metal floor that stretched the expanse in all directions, interrupted only by the tracks for the platforms and enormous pipes reaching like the limbs of a mechanical kraken from the walls of the chamber all the way to the island in the middle.

Lights began flickering on as the platforms converged at the center from all sides, revealing an intricate grid of softly glowing cords wrapped around the ceiling like the world's largest coiled snake. A solitary pillar occupying the center of the island lit up as well, giving off a glow that marked the middle of the entire area.

Grinning at the look of awe on Cass' face, Alabaster waved a paw at the scene and said, "Behold the central elevator chamber. This place was the first thing our mothers and fathers built upon the discovery of the Arcane Atrium, the source of all our science, the sacred place responsible for the Day of the Advent. This chamber is actually built directly over the Arcane Atrium."

Tearing her gaze from the magnificence of it all, Cass asked, "Why's that?"

Alabaster pointed to the ceiling and said, "You see those up there? Those coils power the central elevator and every device we've crafted since the Day of the Advent. They're all connected to the Siphon, which harnesses the endless power radiated by the Spark of Science."

"The Spark of Science! I've heard about that! Isn't it the mysterious force at the core of the Arcane Atrium?"

"Yes, I'm sure you're familiar with the story."

"What mole isn't? It completely changed our way of life."

Alabaster nodded in agreement as their platform docked with the island. They both made their way toward the structure in the middle where the others were already waiting for their arrival. "Alabaster, what took you so long?" asked Onyx with his hands held out on either side of him in a questioning manner.

"We ran into a little delay," replied Alabaster as he came to a halt next to his brother.

"This dipstick forgot his password for the elevator," said Cass as she slapped Alabaster on the back to let him know she was just picking on him. "So where's Corbal with his Polarion?"

Onyx turned to Cass and replied, "I'm assuming it will take him a little longer to load up his device so he can ship it here, but if we factor in your delay, he should be along shortly."

"Ah, there he is!" shouted one of the other chiefs.

Sure enough, another platform was zipping its way across the track that led to the last vacant docking station. When it got closer, they could see that there were several crew members of Cryo Labs standing around a device that was shaped much like the Reconciler, yet only stood at about twenty-five feet. "Corbal was right," commented Cass. "That thing's too big to remove from the labs any other way."

When they finally docked with the central platform, the moles aboard the last shipment began to wheel the device toward the center of the island with the help of a heavy duty cart. Corbal had put himself in charge of overseeing the transportation of the machine. "Careful, careful. I don't want a scratch on it, you hear me? This thing took seven years of research and hard work to finish."

The other chiefs gathered around the pillar at the center of the chamber and began to fiddle with controls stationed all around the column. "What are they doing?" asked Cass as she leaned toward Alabaster.

"They're telling the platform how high to go and how much of it should be raised."

"They can control that, too?"

"Yes. That pylon serves as the cyber brain for the elevator. You see, this whole structure is comprised of malleable matter, the miracle substance that can take on any density, shape, or state of matter with the right electrical signals. The chiefs are typing in the intricate algorithms that describe what new shape the platform should take."

"So they're going to raise the platform all the way up to Mjölnir? There's not enough material for that."

Shaking his head, Alabaster replied, "Not true. You see all of the pipes leading to and away from the elevator? The malleable matter is piped into the elevator in liquid form and then used to help shape the new formation. Then, when we need to lower the elevator, the matter is broken down into liquid form again and pumped away to be stored in giant tanks under the elevator just above the Arcane Atrium."

"That's clever. This truly is the greatest thing we've ever made."

"Alright everyone!" shouted Onyx, getting everyone's attention. "Get ready for ascension!"

Suddenly, the platform began to ripple under their feet as it rose up and into the air in a giant column. As they neared the ceiling, it opened up to allow them passage into an empty tunnel that forged a path straight upward. After a few moments of rising, another ceiling opened. When the edge of the platform was level with the new aperture the chiefs gave the elevator the signal to come to a halt.

Cass looked up and saw that they were directly beneath the Reconciler. "Did you build that here on purpose?" she asked as she pointed up at the machine.

"How else do you think we're going to get it out of here when we're finished with it?" asked Onyx.

Cass figured that made sense but quickly forgot about the issue as everyone began to focus on the matter at hand. Corbal and his subordinates wheeled the Polarion out from under the device that wrecked the support column and pointed it at the area in question. The chief climbed up in a tiny seat and flipped a switch, turning the weapon on. He grabbed the controls and pointed the barrel of the gun at the top section where the column came to an end. "Alright everyone. Charging the heat diffusers. Stand clear."

The others stood back as the machine emitted a high pitched whine. They watched as Corbal shouted, "Diffusing!" He pushed a button and four cylindrical vents shot out the back of the machine, pouring a tremendous amount of heat out, making the air waver so fiercely no one could discern what hid behind the curtain of searing haze. A split second before the venting process, everyone felt all the heat around the device get sapped out of the air as it was sucked into the device, only to be expelled in an instant.

"Firing!" Corbal pushed another button and the barrel of the gun shot out a bluish-white beam that lanced across the distance to the damaged support column. The moment it touched the rock, ice exploded outward in all directions, spreading at an exponential rate to fill in the gap.

All around the city, everyone cheered as they watched the mending process. Cass cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Hurry up, Corbal! That makes the top heavier and more likely to collapse!"

It was decided among the chiefs that though it would be preferable to start at the bottom section and work their way up to prevent this problem, they would have to work from the top down and hope the ceiling didn't collapse between firings. Unfortunately, the bottom section was too high to aim for it at the right angle.

The beam thinned and eventually died out all together after a moment, and Corbal had to vent the heat out and away from the machine again before he could continue. As the second shot birthed more ice to bridge the gap, the ceiling cracked again. The sound of the fissure's formation resounded through the cavern, effectively silencing the cheers of the spectators below. A widget of stone the size of a young dragon broke away from the ceiling and cascaded down into the abyss below. The spirits of everyone in Mjölnir fell with the stone, weighed down by the gravity of this new development.

As the second shot came to an end, everyone shouted at Corbal to fire again. He readied the Polarion as fast as he could, but the ceiling began to groan under the weight of the rock and ice. It couldn't hold up Warfang for much more than a few seconds now and everyone knew it. Shouts of anguish, panic, and despair filled the city as the cavern began to collapse.

At last, Corbal vented the heat a third time and fired what had to be the final shot just as the ceiling started to sag. The beam raced toward the column, striking the ice from the second shot and making more bloom outward in a huge bulge that finished the repairs and instantly eased all of the tension on the ceiling.

Cheers erupted from the citizens of Mjölnir once more as the crisis was averted and the ceiling was brought to a halt. It hadn't even moved more than a couple feet, making the difference unnoticeable. Corbal climbed out of the Polarion, shaking with anxiety, but clearly pleased with the results. He was immediately rushed by his colleagues and given many pats on the back, enthusiastic shakes, and powerful praises.

The only ones who didn't join in were Cass, Alabaster, and Onyx. They looked at one another, knowing the problem wasn't over yet, and weren't so quick to celebrate. Turning to Cass and his brother, Onyx said, "Shall we go to the surface then?"

"You two go ahead," replied Alabaster as he started climbing the ladder up the Reconciler. "I'll stay here and see if I can figure out what caused the misfire."

They both nodded before Cass turned to Onyx and said, "After you then." Together, the two made their way into the tunnels that would lead them to Warfang, where they would recruit some dragons for phase two of the repairs.

Alabaster watched them go from the control deck and sighed. _"There they go. Looks like they were able to fix it after all."_

"_No worries, Alabaster. Soon enough, all of our enemies shall fall under the power of the Phylum."_


	23. Chapter 22 Power of the Purple Dragon

Chapter 22- Power of the Purple Dragon

After healing the cheetahs, Yarrow made his way home and requested to be left alone, but allowed Wither to come with him. Wither cleared away all the rubble in Yarrow's garden by sucking it into the Void and sat down in the dirt as he watched Yarrow set himself to the task of breathing life into the garden once again. The work was slow, but satisfying to the elder. He listened to the idle talk of his young friend as he planted the seeds that he kept stored in his house and willed them to grow faster than any plant could on its own. Though it was not uncommon for a life dragon with Yarrow's experience to conjure life from seemingly nothing, the seeds made the job considerably easier on the weary ancient.

He smiled at Wither's words and joined in the conversation even though he was currently too busy to look at Wither. After an hour of this, Yarrow sat back to look at his work with joy. Only about a tenth of the garden had been replanted, but the section that had been restored boasted every bit of its former glory and perhaps even then some. "I think that's a good start, don't you?"

"It's beautiful, Yarrow. You'll have this place looking like new in no time, provided it doesn't get destroyed again."

Swishing his tail and creating a carpet of grass in its wake, Yarrow turned and replied, "In the end, it matters not. Given enough time, nature eventually takes everything back. I'm merely speeding up the process."

Wither nodded in understanding before looking back at the center of the garden. "What will you do about the pavilion and the damaged section of your house?"

"The moles will certainly rebuild it for me. I'll have to ask them about that before I finish the garden."

Just then, a rumble shook the earth for a brief moment, and then all was still. "What was that?" asked Wither as he lifted his feet and stared at the ground.

Yarrow also glanced at the earth beneath him and scratched at the dirt. "Sounds like the moles are working on something down there. I hope everything's alright. I still wish they would let us help them. There's so much that a group of dragons could do for them. They don't have our magic, after all. Ah, it's just as well I suppose. Not too many dragons are feeling up to whatever task it may be right now anyway."

Wither pondered over the earthquakes for a moment before looking up at Yarrow. "Quantus seemed pretty confident that they could handle whatever it is on their own. If they need our help, they'll come to us. They probably just don't want to bother us. Plus, their pride could be getting in the way a bit. They certainly have enough of that to go around. I wouldn't worry about it too much."

With a nod of agreement Yarrow replied, "Yes, you're right. I just think we could make their job easier."

"Eh, it's up to them."

Yarrow gave Wither a halfhearted smile before admiring his handiwork once more from a distance. After a long silence Wither looked up and noticed that Yarrow seemed to be deep in thought. It was almost as though he was in a trance. Wither stepped away from Yarrow a bit to get a better look at his face, but Yarrow noticed the movement and shook himself out of his reverie, remembering where he was.

When Yarrow made eye contact with him as if to ask, 'What?' Wither asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Crinkling his eyes at Wither, Yarrow lowered his head to hide his face and shook his head again, though this time for a different reason. "Just a memory."

Cocking his head out of curiosity, Wither took a step and slid a little closer to Yarrow. "What _kind_ of memory?"

"An important one."

Wanting to know more, Wither slumped against Yarrow's foreleg and asked, "What's it about?"

Yarrow swayed his head side to side for a moment, thinking about his answer before replying simply, "A dragon."

"Who?" persisted Wither with a grin.

Yarrow's eyes went hazy again and his voice sounded as though he was drifting away. "Her name was Lumanellie."

Brushing his claws through the new grass, Wither asked, "What kind of dragon was she?"

"A light dragon. The most beautiful of her generation." Yarrow gave a small sigh as he gazed upon the new section of the garden and settled into the memory. "We built this place together the first time," he said more to himself than to Wither. "She would talk to me while I nurtured the plants, and she would command the sun to shine down on them in just the right way. This place was never more beautiful than it was in those days. Oh, how I miss my Luma."

A single tear fell from Yarrow's jawline. It fell between the reminiscing dragon's paws, just in front of Wither, splashing quietly on the ground and spontaneously growing an orchid. Wither stared down at the flower, unable to find the courage to look up. "She was your wife."

Yarrow glanced down at the youngling latched onto his paw and rubbed his face with his free paw. "Yes, but that was a very long time ago."

Wither looked at the flower again. What else did he not know about Yarrow? This was the first time he had ever heard him so much as speak endearingly about a dragoness, let alone admit that he had once been married. What about all the times Yarrow had joked about his age? Come to think of it, he never had given Wither a straight answer about how old he was. That was something he always avoided revealing at every turn. It made Wither wonder how well he actually knew his oldest friend. Looking back up at Yarrow again, Wither slowly asked, "Did you ever have any younglings?"

At this, Yarrow's scales actually bristled and he quietly answered, "I have no offspring. My line ends with me." He then looked Wither in the eyes for a moment, looking deep into the windows of his soul. After a few long seconds, he smiled again and pat Wither on the back. "You have a good heart, Wither. Don't ever let that change, okay?"

"Uh . . . okay."

"Promise me."

"I . . . I promise, Yarrow."

"Mmm, good," hummed the ancient as he sat back up and stood to take a walk. "Come. Let's go see your family. Perhaps they would like us to visit them during their time off."

Wither removed himself from Yarrow's paw and shrugged off the strange feeling of their previous conversation. "My dad sure was . . . uh . . . agitated when you told him and my mom to go relax at home instead of helping in the hunt of that creature."

Yarrow chuckled and replied, "Your father appears a little obsessed with it. I don't want him making any poor judgment calls should he happen upon it. Besides, your mother and father have been working very hard with you and your friends. They deserve the rest of the day off."

Wither agreed and walked with Yarrow through his house and out the other side. Once they were back outside the youngling glared up at the sun and hissed as the clouds that had been covering it floated away. He scuttled closer to Yarrow, walking in his shadow to avoid the afternoon sun.

On their way back to the Spyro household, they passed two moles who were running through the street. One was adorned in the usual steel-toed boots, dusty pants, and wrinkled shirt. In short, he appeared as though he had just crawled out from under a rock. The other, however, was wrapped head to toe in white robes that even covered her face, leaving a space for her eyes to peek out. Both wore the telltale oculars that all moles used to protect their sensitive eyes from the harsh light of the sun.

As they ran by on the other side of the street, Wither and Yarrow watched them go with curiosity. The mole who was wearing the typical garb of his people asked the one beside him, "You visit the surface often, Cass. Where does the Earth Master live?"

Yarrow and Wither exchanged glances and looked back at the moles. "I haven't a clue. I'm no dragon. The locations of the elders' dwellings aren't important to me."

"We'll have to ask someone then," replied the male.

The one called Cass turned around and said, "Ah, he'll know."

They doubled back and made their way across the street, stopping in front of the elder. As they approached, Yarrow asked, "Can I help you?"

Cass stopped and bowed in greeting. "Hello, my name is Cass. If I'm not mistaken, you are Yarrow, the highest authority in Warfang, are you not?"

"I am," confirmed Yarrow.

"Excellent. Could you tell us where we might find Earth Master Terrador? We are in dire need of his aid."

Rather than agreeing straight away, Yarrow decided to milk them for information and instead asked, "What sort of problem would require you to trouble Terrador?"

At this, Cass appeared unsure as to how she should continue, or at least that's what her body language gave off from what Wither could tell. The mole's strange clothing concealed nearly every bit of her face. After a second's pause, she looked back up and replied, "There's been a uh . . . cave in of sorts, and we were wondering if we could trouble the earth dragons to come down to Mjölnir for a moment."

"A cave in? Your people are quite adept at working the innards of the earth. Can you not handle it on your own?"

"Yes, we would, but you see, there's never been a uhm . . . problem of this magnitude in Mjölnir before. We're just not equipped to deal with the problem on our own, to tell you the truth. The mole nation is in agreement that magic is necessary to repair the damage."

After hearing her out, Yarrow closed his eyes and gave a sorry sounding sigh before opening them once more and replying, "I hear and understand your problem, but much as I hate to say it, we're dealing with a problem of our own up here right now. Everyone is currently recovering from a terrible disease that has wracked our entire city. All the citizens have been healed, but they are still weak and in poor condition to resolve a cave in."

Cass spread her hands before her and said, "That's terrible news indeed, but perhaps I should be blunt with you. If the earth dragons don't come to help us in the next few days, there will be consequences that those of Warfang and Mjölnir won't be alive to regret."

Now Wither decided to speak, catching their attention for the first time. "Is there just a bunch of rubble that needs moved? I never got sick, so I'm feeling fine. I could dispose of it for you."

Cass looked Wither over with masked skepticism behind her oculars, slowly saying, "No, it's nothing like that. Besides, even if that were the problem, I'm not so certain a youngling such as yourself could remove a blockage." She was about to turned back to Yarrow, but quickly rounded on Wither once more. "Hey, wait a minute. I think I've heard of you. Word in Mjölnir is there's a young dragon in Warfang that can control some sort of antimatter. What was that name again?" she asked herself as she looked at her feet and snapped her fingers to help her thoughts with the steady cadence. "Ah, Wither, is it?"

"Yeah, that's me," replied Wither, clearly surprised that apparently everyone in Mjölnir knew of him."

"You're Spyro and Cynder's boy, aren't you?"

"That's right," answered Wither, wondering where this was going.

"Oh, could you be a dear and put a word in for us with your parents? We need all the support we can get, and your parents could really weigh heavily on the decision for aid to be sent to Mjölnir."

Wither perked up and replied, "Oh! Actually, my mom and dad never got sick. They could come help if it's so important."

Pleased with their good fortune, Cass asked, "You really think so? I'm not sure if they could handle the whole problem alone."

"You forget, my dad put the entire world back together twenty years ago, and he's a lot stronger now than he was then."

Cass turned to Onyx and asked, "What do you think?"

He nodded vigorously and quickly replied, "Yes, yes, that should work beautifully. In a way, it's better than all of the earth dragons coming down. The fact that Spyro could work the earth and the ice simultaneously will certainly be a bonus."

"Ice? What ice?" asked Wither.

Cass shook her head and said, "Not here. Please take us to your house so that we may hear your parents' answer."

Clearing his throat, Yarrow spoke up once more. "Alright then, this way. We were heading there anyway."

As they started on their way again, Wither looked over at the moles. Addressing the one next to him, he said, "I don't think you introduced yourselves. You're Cass, right?"

"Oh yes, that's right! And this is Onyx over here," she said as she gestured toward her companion.

Wither gave each of them a smile and nodded to Onyx as he turned to wave to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I can't say I've gotten too familiar with many moles before. So tell us, what exactly happened down there?"

Yarrow looked sideways at the moles and asked, "Yes, what caused this cave in of catastrophic proportions?"

Cass clasped her hands together and took a deep breath as she began her explanation. "We had an accident. It was meant to be a surprise, but we've kind of ruined the chances of giving you a pleasant surprise. We've been working on a secret weapon to help you in the war, but it malfunctioned while we were working on it and a misfire occurred. The result was critical collateral damage to what is easily the most important support column that holds Warfang above the caverns underground as well as extensive damage to the weapon, which shouldn't have been activated until it was complete. The premature firing sequence has shaken the machine and set us back by probably a month or so. However, our most pressing concern is the support column. Without it, Warfang won't hold for very long."

Yarrow listened to everything intently, allowing Cass to finish before saying, "Just a moment, it has always been my understanding that the support columns under Warfang are made of solid stone and are roughly a quarter mile thick."

"That's right," replied Cass, understanding Yarrow's confusion.

"So what you're saying is you've damaged one of the columns enough to make a difference?"

Cass looked up at Yarrow and replied, "I know it's hard to fathom, but this device is meant to be our crowning achievement in terms of offensive weaponry. We didn't just _damage_ the column, we decimated it."

Yarrow and Wither stopped walking as these last words hit their ears. The ancient dragon turned to regard the moles with a disbelieving look. "The only thing that strong is the power of the Purple Dragon, and such a display of force would all but drain the dragon of his magic."

Onyx nodded and replied with his head held high, "That's how it's been for thousands of years, but the mole nation had been rising in power ever since a revolutionary discovery we made about sixty years ago."

"Yes," interrupted Cass quickly, "but right now we must focus on the matter at hand."

Making their way forward again, they continued to talk about the issue taking place below. Wither spoke next, asking, "If the support column is so important and you completely destroyed it, how are we still standing here?"

Cass looked down at the ground and said, "We took out a section of the column, leaving a rather sizable gap in it. To temporarily fix it, we used another weapon to bridge the gap with a massive block of ice."

"Ah, so that's where the ice comes in," replied Wither.

"Yes, your mother and father have to remove the ice carefully while replacing it with earth so that they can fuse it to the column without upsetting the balance."

"Well, my dad's a lot better at controlling earth and ice than my mom, but he taught her how to do it. She may be a little rusty. She tends to use those elements only on occasion."

Yarrow chuckled at Wither and replied, "Be that as it may, she is still a force to reckon with. The power instilled in her by Malefor will make her extraordinarily skilled at this task even though she doesn't practice these elements on a daily basis. You don't know all that your parents can do, Wither. They've never had to demonstrate the full extent of their power in your presence."

Waving a paw at Yarrow, Wither gave a quick laugh and said, "Nah, they fought me in the arena during their lessons. They weren't holding back either."

"Is that what they told you? You don't honestly believe that, do you?"

"Well . . . yeah. They told me not to hold back."

"And did you?"

"No."

"That doesn't mean they didn't."

"But I told them not to," replied Wither with a frown.

Sighing at his pupil's ignorance, Yarrow said, "Wither, you are their son and just a student, a youngling. Your parents and I know you are stronger than most of the other elders, but there is no doubt between the three of us that if any one of us were trying our hardest to beat you, you would put up a fantastic fight, but ultimately lose."

Trying to suppress the beginnings of anger boiling up inside, Wither said, "When I beat my dad, he told me that I had proven myself against him and marked myself as one of the most powerful dragons in the world."

Onyx interrupted and asked, "Hold up. You defeated Spyro in a battle? Incredible!"

Ignoring the moles for a moment, Yarrow replied, "Yes, you proved yourself against your father in that specific match. In doing so, you also solidified your position of power above most other dragons, but the fact remains that you still have many years ahead of you until you surpass your parents and myself. The only reason why they haven't fought you with everything is because they don't want to hurt you. Sparring matches are sparring matches, not all out battles. Let me ask you this. Do you think you could defeat me if I were in control of a Ranvacoya?"

"I could if I were Hypoactive."

Yarrow shot Wither a look that quelled his confidence. "Yes, your parents and I are still debating how we're going to deal with that. In the meantime, you remember our deal about using that power. Without it, how do you think you would fare against me?"

Lowering his head in defeat, Wither mumbled, "Not very well, I guess."

Yarrow used his tail to draw Wither closer to him and said, "I find your obsession with power a bit disturbing, Wither. Brute force isn't everything in this world, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," replied the youngling as he leaned his head on Yarrow's side. "I just wanted to know I was more powerful than you or my parents. If I were, then I wouldn't have to worry about fighting Malefor, but if what you're saying is true, and I'm not as strong as you or my mom and dad then I don't stand a chance. I mean, Malefor_ killed_ you and he wasn't even trying that hard. How am I supposed to face something like that if I could win against you?"

The moles gave both dragons funny looks at the mention of Yarrow's death, but merely shrugged to each other and chose to remain silent. The matter was between both of the dragons and it sounded too important to be interrupted.

Yarrow smiled down at Wither as his tiny head burrowed into his side. "Oh Wither, you don't have to worry about Malefor. Leave him to your parents. They're more capable of standing up to him."

"But if I were to—"

"I said no. You're not using that power without strict supervision. I'm still not sure if it's dark magic or not. I will need to observe you using it later to test it. Your parents should also be present for such an event."

"Alright, fine."

"Besides, your job is to learn and develop your abilities as best you can so that you can defend the city when we are under siege."

Wither's eyes widened once he heard this. Raising his head, he asked, "Siege?"

"Mmhmm, you don't think a war consists only of random attacks by a few individuals, do you? Malefor is no doubt assembling an army of hundreds of thousands just as he was gathering generals. My guess is that a vast potion of his army will be placed under the command of each of his generals so that he may evenly distribute his forces and make the most of them. That's why the entire city has been fortifying the perimeter of Warfang. Their efforts would be useless if all of the future attacks on Warfang were started by Malefor's generals, seeing as they can open portals that bypass our defenses. We've barely seen the beginning of this war. When the real fighting starts, we'll need you to use your powers to weaken our foes so that we might defeat them with ease. That was the plan the elders came up with."

"No one told me," pouted Wither.

"It was decided that you would only be told if you asked. We didn't want to concern you or your friends with your knowledge of your role in the defense of the city."

Now Wither raised his head again and drew away from Yarrow so he could look up at him properly. "What about my friends? What will they do?"

Looking forward, Yarrow replied, "They are to fight alongside those mature enough to participate in the war until a task of greater importance can be discerned for them. Have you received anymore messages from the Chronicler?"

Shaking his head, Wither replied, "Not since before my bout with Arragor, no."

"That's alright. For now we will simply do the best we can with what we know."

By now the tower stood before the group. Wither stopped and passed his invisible tendrils through the door and spread them through the entire house, asking, "Hello? Anybody home?"

"Wither?" came Cynder's voice through one of the links. "Where are you?"

"Outside. Where are you?"

"Your father and I decided to take a dip in the pool."

"Mind if we join you?"

"Who's we?" asked Spyro.

The moles watched and listened in fascination as Yarrow leaned forward and said, "We've brought some moles who have a favor to ask of you. Shall we come in?"

"Yeah, come on up."

Wither opened the way to the side of his pool and said, "Alright everyone. Follow me." He then proceeded to step forward toward the front door, disappearing into a certain point in space with each step.

The moles balked at the display, but Yarrow simply followed the youngling into the shifting point where he, too, disappeared. For a moment, the moles just stared at the space in front of them, unsure as to what they should do, but then Yarrow's head emerged from the invisible gate to hang suspended in midair. "Are you coming? Don't be frightened. It's perfectly safe."

Slowly, the two of them stepped forward and suddenly found themselves standing at the edge of a large pool where two dragons drifted lazily to and fro. Wither and Yarrow stood next to the edge and gestured toward the dragons in the water. Onyx and Cass looked back to those in the water and discovered upon further inspection that they were Spyro and Cynder. Their first instinct told them to appeal to the customs of the dragons by bowing in respect before the legendary warriors, but when they did so, Spyro said, "That's not necessary," as he drifted past them on his back just two or three feet away.

From several feet away, more toward the center of the pool, Cynder called out, "Yeah, this is hardly a formal situation. So, what do you need?"

Clearing her throat and straightening up, Cass declared, "The moles require the aid of powerful dragons who can manipulate ice and earth. There has been an accident in Mjölnir that puts both of our cities in great danger, and if the damage that has been done to a crucial support column holding up Warfang isn't fixed, the dragon city will crumble under its own weight and crush the mole city in the process. A gap in the column has been filled in with ice to buy everyone time, but it needs to be carefully removed and replaced with stone to permanently resolve the issue."

Spyro looked to Cynder and said, "Ehhh, those columns are big, aren't they? I may need your help with this one."

Cynder was already climbing out of the pool and shaking herself off to dry. "Yeah, I'd better come with you. Okay, lead the way."

Unable to believe his ears, Onyx asked, "What? Just like that?"

Spyro crawled out of the pool right in front of the moles and replied, "Yeah, why not? It sounds important to me."

"We thought it would take you a while to get around to it."

"Nah, we don't have anything going on right now. Isn't that right, Yarrow? Anyway, better do it now while we're not too busy."

"Oh, thank you. Truly, you are kind and generous souls."

"Hey, anything for one of our teachers," said Cynder with a wink.

Onyx began to laugh at this. "Haha! You remember that?"

Spyro nudged him with a paw and replied, "Of course! It wasn't all that long ago when we were considered younglings. Remember when we got back after defeating Malefor? The student training grounds were in shambles along with the rest of the city, so instead of splitting up elemental classes as is tradition, our generation's school had a block schedule. You were one of the teacher's aids, right?"

Nodding and grinning at Spyro's memory, Onyx said, "That's right. I sure was. I didn't think you two would recognize me."

Spyro distanced himself from Onyx and Cass before shaking himself off. He then walked back toward them with Cynder. "Like I said, we weren't younglings too long ago."

Onyx crossed his arms with a raised eyebrow and replied in a clearly impressed tone, "It was twenty years ago."

Yarrow gave a tiny laugh before saying, "That's like two years to a dragon by your standards."

Cass clapped her hands together and raised her voice just a bit to catch everyone's attention. "I don't wish to interrupt the reunion, but we need to get going."

Spyro nodded and straightened back up, asking, "Alright, where's the nearest dragon sized tunnel that leads to Mjölnir?"

With a grin, Onyx put a hand to his oculars and lowered his head. "You wouldn't know it, but there are quite a few of them. Hundreds, really. The nearest one from here should be at the bottom floor of your home."

"How's that?" asked Cynder with mild surprise. "There's nothing downstairs except the basin we talk to company in."

With a quick, somewhat suppressed chuckle, Onyx replied, "Yes, I'm sure the master engineers who built this place made it seem that way. Come. Let us make our way to the ground floor."

Wither waved a paw to his side and said, "Right this way, everyone."

Once the rest of the company had walked through his shifting point, he followed them and stopped beside Yarrow and the moles. Both of the furry little creatures looked around the room and almost immediately made their way toward the far right corner from the doorway. They stopped once they reached the statue of Spyro and Cynder beaming down at their egg that contained Wither. Cass searched the base that they rested on and mumbled quietly with Onyx for a moment. "Yes, see the markings? Safe to say it's here, but where's the release? Ah, there we go."

Seeing what no dragon could have ever understood, Cass slid a segment of stone aside, revealing an access panel glowing with tiny lights under the granite. With the push of a button, the entire statue rose up about an inch, allowing two thin rails to slide out the back across the floor to connect with the wall. The statue then glided down the track and came to a halt against the wall. A gaping hole in the floor now stared back at the moles who high fived each other for figuring out the riddle their last generation left behind for their benefit. A staircase dove down into the blinding darkness, disappearing from sight only several feet in.

"There we go," said Onyx, clearly pleased. He turned around and held a hand out to the opening. "Is everyone ready? The journey to Mjölnir could take a while, so make sure you are."

Spyro and Cynder leaned their heads over the moles and stared down the stairs in disbelief. Sharing a shocked glance with Cynder, Spyro asked, "You mean this thing has been under our house this whole time? Why didn't anyone tell us there was secret passage beneath us?"

"All dragons are on a need to know basis when it comes to our secrets," replied Onyx with a sniff.

Cynder snaked her tail around Onyx's leg and turned her head to stare at the mole with a sideways glance. "Why the secrecy? There's no harm in us knowing about an underground passage just below our home."

Cass placed a hand on Cynder's tail and unraveled it to free Onyx, though it was clear Cynder let her do it, as she loosened her tail herself to help her. "Dragons have their secrets, and we have ours. If your kind were to ever impart yours to ours, we would do the same."

"That is an unsatisfying answer," replied Spyro. "Our nations are friendly to one another, and have been for quite some time. There should be no secrets between allies."

Cass wagged a finger and responded to this statement a little too quickly for Spyro's taste. "We are allies, yes, but that does not mean both sides are not entitled to their sacred rituals, traditions, or what have you. There is much that dragons could teach the mole nation but have passively refused to tell us for many centuries. Therefore, we moles feel that is not without due cause that we fail to report our every finding to your people."

Spyro and Cynder turned to Yarrow who merely shrugged and replied, "That seems fair enough to me. I honestly don't know why this bothers you two so much. The moles are the unofficial caretakers of Warfang's underbelly. They need their tunnels to get them to every conceivable location in the rock between Warfang and Mjölnir in case of an emergency. Where those tunnels happen to end up on our side is hardly any of our concern, and it's obvious that this tunnel is never used, so you should just drop the issue and be on your merry way. Mjölnir is waiting."

Spyro looked down the stairs again and said, "Well, if it doesn't bother you, then I guess I'm fine with it. Let's go."

"Splendid!" exclaimed Onyx as he began to tread carefully down the steps.

The rest followed him wordlessly. Just a couple seconds into their journey, several soft lights flickered on, revealing the way forward. Wither looked around and asked, "How did those come on?"

Onyx waved a hand around in a circle, saying, "There's a motion sensor somewhere. It told the lights to come on when we were in range."

All of the dragons looked at one another in confusion. They had barely delved five feet underground and already the world was foreign to the lot of them. Things were clearly different in the world of the moles, just how different, though, was yet to be seen.

As everyone trudged down stairs, across long hallways, and down more stairs, Cynder finally asked, "So you say there are hundreds of tunnels between Warfang and Mjölnir? Why so many?"

Onyx spoke up as he and Cass continued to lead the way forward, passing through a chaotic crossroads of tunnels every so often. "It's a safety measure. In the event that Warfang is under so heavy a siege that it should fall, everyone on the surface can retreat to the underground and regroup in Mjölnir. However, Warfang is the greatest city in the known world in terms of size. It's ten miles in diameter no matter which way you're looking at it, so there need to be a lot of tunnels to facilitate a speedy and efficient evacuation of the city."

"How could anyone ever find their way through this labyrinth without a guide?" asked Spyro.

"If the order to evacuate is sent out, our response teams will act with all due speed to rendezvous with your people at the first points of divergence in the tunnels topside. Don't worry. We have everything figured out."

"Wow, sounds like it," replied Spyro, clearly impressed. "So now that we're on our way down to Mjölnir, what are the details as to what we should be doing?"

Cass thought for a moment before replying, "There's really not much to tell that we haven't already said. You'll just have to see the damaged column for yourself and make what you will of it. It'll be up to you and Cynder to fix it the best way you see fit."

Cynder looked at Spyro before facing forward once more and saying, "We've never been to Mjölnir before, but the tales concerning the size of those columns are pretty well known. I think we can fix one even if it's truly broken the way you say it is, but how in the world did this column receive such punishment?"

With a sigh, Onyx answered her question, though it was clear he didn't exactly want to. "We were building a secret weapon, well, still are, but we aren't done with it yet. Anyway against all odds, it somehow activated itself and destroyed the column. It's a real shame too, because we weren't finished installing the shock coil, and the firing sequence shook the device all to pieces. It's a big setback, but the column is still more important."

Spyro cocked his head and asked, "You mean you built a weapon strong enough to destroy an entire segment in one of those giant columns? That's insane! What is this thing?"

"No point in keeping it a secret anymore, I suppose. We call it the Reconciler," answered Cass. "It's essentially a mass driver, meant to fire fifty meter rounds through a magnetically accelerated cannon at roughly two kilometers per second. The resulting force of the impact is equivalent to roughly five hundred thousand earth dragons simultaneously unleashing their fury in the same spot, or so our studies tell us."

After this statement, Yarrow finally broke his silence. "That is truly incredible. Since when were your people so capable of creating such things? And why are you waiting until now to use them? I can think of many times such devices would have been useful twenty to thirty years back."

Cass and Onyx shared a quick glance before Cass replied, "That crosses over into territory that dragons should not traverse. I can't tell you much, but I will say this. For several decades now, our people have been advancing at an exponential rate. The more we learn, the faster we learn. It has been only just recently that we have accumulated enough knowledge to arrive at a critical threshold of understanding. Upon crossing that metaphysical line in the mental realm, we have achieved a new, intimate relationship with the knowledge of the world. Everything we know is starting to stitch together, to form a bigger picture. It is as though the universe is unraveling before our very eyes, and we are quite eagerly awaiting the day when there is naught we fail to understand."

Yarrow lowered his head to regard the backs of the moles' heads with a great deal of scrutiny. "Most intriguing. It sounds as though your kind is using magic again. I can't imagine any other way a nation can reach such a level of oneness with the universe."

Onyx shook his head and replied, "Nope. The last mole sorcerer was the infamous pyromancer, Brim, and he died over three thousand years ago, a good thousand years before the creation of Warfang. He took the last of the moles' knowledge concerning magic to his grave. The power we have now is derived from another source. But enough on that matter. We're here."

The tunnel that they were traversing came to a turn. Once they made it, the somewhat tight quarters opened up into a massive cavern. It was too large to behold the whole thing due to the lack of light, but everyone could make out an immense underground plateau in the center, the top of which glowed like a beacon in the perpetual twilight. A road led the way to the base of the titanic rock formation that rose up from the earth two miles away, indicating that it supported their destination.

Holding out a hand, Onyx exclaimed, "Welcome to the subsurface! As you can see, Mjölnir rest atop that plateau. However, the column that needs your attention is on the far side. If you'd like, you can assess your task from the city outskirts. The top of the plateau makes for the best vantage point down here and is almost level with the damaged section of the column. Unfortunately, the column is about a mile out from the city, so unless you can use your magic at that range, you'll need to hover around the column as you fix it." Onyx said this last part slowly as he gestured at Cynder's damaged wing with concern.

Cynder lifted her wing and gazed at the holes in her membrane with a pained expression. "I'm afraid that will be quite impossible. You see, our foes are none too kind. This was courtesy of Xath, the one who calls himself Pestilence now. Needless to say, I'm not exactly airworthy right now."

"Perhaps I can help you there," said Yarrow as he stepped forward and placed a paw where Cynder's wing connected to her back.

Pulling away, Cynder replied, "No, you've already nearly overextended yourself today healing everyone. Plus, if you were to heal the whole thing _right now_, wouldn't that require a tremendous amount of energy?"

"Allow me full control of your magic until it's complete. I'll use your energy to do it."

"A lot of good I'll be down here then."

"Perhaps Spyro could chip in."

"Yeah, not helping. We need another source of energy. One that won't be used to fix the column. We kind of need to save our strength."

Cass pointed to Mjölnir and said, "If it's energy you need, we have plenty of it in the city. Just hook up to one of our power stations. You'll get all the energy you need."

"That's much appreciated," replied Yarrow with a nod. "Shall we go then?"

Onyx gestured ahead and said, "The road leads to a lift that takes you up to the city, but flying would be faster. If you'd like, you can all go ahead and we'll meet you there."

"Oooor," replied Cynder slowly, "we can go ahead and walk since my son and I can't fly anyway."

Snapping his fingers, Onyx quickly amended himself. "Oh, that's right. How could I forget so quickly? To the lift then."

They started on their way down the somewhat lengthy road. As the party began the walk down the trail to the lift, Onyx pulled a small, black box out of his pocket. It looked like the same device Quantus had used earlier to talk to the moles in Mjölnir. He raised it to his mouth and clicked a button before speaking. "Alabaster, you there?"

Spyro and Cynder looked back at Yarrow in askance, but he merely shook his head with the same confusion that alighted on their faces. A moment of silence passed, before the box crackled and a voice replied, "Onyx? Yes, I'm listening, brother."

"Cass and I are returning. The earth dragons were unable to assist us with the repairs, but we have managed to enlist the aid of the legendary heroes Spyro and Cynder."

Silence once again followed this statement. The pause was considerably longer this time. Finally, Alabaster asked back, "Are they accompanying you and Cass back to Mjölnir alone?"

"No, the dragon leader, Yarrow, and their son, Wither, are also with us." This time, the silence was so long that Onyx had to push the button again and ask, "Alabaster? Everything alright?"

The device crackled once more and Alabaster replied, "Yes, everything's fine. I just realized that I have something of paramount importance to attend to in Aero Labs. I trust the repairs can be made in my absence?"

"Of course," replied Onyx, a hint of confusion in his voice. "Did you find anything suspicious on the Reconciler's control deck?"

"Sorry, no. We'll, have to look again later. I have to go now. I'll talk to you later."

The device crackled again, leaving Onyx with nothing to do but place it back in his pocket. "Huh, that was weird. He sure seemed to be in an awful hurry. I wonder what was so important that he had to go down to Aero Labs?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Cass said, "Who knows? You were right earlier. Alabaster is acting strange. He's suddenly faster, stronger, and has generally improved senses. Do you know that he heard us talking about him on the scaffolding?"

Onyx reared his head back and turned to look at Cass to make sure he heard her right. "What caused all of that to happen?"

"He says it's some sort of miracle drug he discovered."

Onyx slowly shook his head and darkly replied, "No, that doesn't sound right. Something like that would most likely be manufactured in Vita Labs. Aero Labs has next to nothing to do with biological research."

Wither suddenly felt a shiver work its way down his spine, causing his tail to flick in the unmistakable way that was indicative of stress in a dragon. Seeing it, Yarrow asked, "Wither, is something wrong?"

Spyro and Cynder looked back as he replied, "It's probably nothing, but . . . that sounds like all the symptoms of Pestilence's corrupting strain."

Spyro whipped his head around and quickly asked, "Has anyone down here encountered a young fear dragon from Wither's generation?"

Shaking his head, Onyx replied, "Not that I'm aware of. It's been roughly twenty years since a dragon has visited Mjölnir. Why do you ask?"

"A magical infection spread through our city today. We've spent the whole day beating it back, but a creature was actually born of it. Its body consists of blood infused with the unique strain of magic. This allows it to morph its body into any form."

"A shape shifter?" asked Cass. "That sounds extremely dangerous."

"It is," continued Spyro. "It can infect anyone simply by touching them. Once infected, its victims defect to Malefor's side. They still maintain their initial personalities to an extent, but their will is twisted to sympathize with the infection. Those corrupted seem to think of themselves as their own race or something, and it's their desire to spread the infection as far as possible."

Cass turned to Onyx and asked, "Didn't you say Alabaster was fine today until he came back from his walk in the tunnels?"

Onyx ran both of his hands through his hair and let his arms fall to his sides. "This sounds horribly suspicious. There's still no definite proof, but, unfortunately, it makes sense. What's even more unfortunate is the fact that he just escaped into the depths of Aero Labs. Probably all the way to sublevel nine. If he went into his own personal lab, there's no one else with the clearance that can go in after him."

Cass placed a hand on Onyx's shoulder and looked him in the eyes. "The way you're talking, it's like he's running away from us. Let's try to give him a little credit. You don't know that he's going into Aero Labs to escape."

"I wouldn't be so sure," replied Wither, gaining everyone's attention. "The infection is purely magical. The thing is, the specific kind of magic it uses is called Amophis. It's something that I and only I can feel. He didn't appear to decide to go until he heard I was coming along. I bet he's trying to remain undetected. If he stays far enough away from me, I won't be able to feel the presence of his Amophis and point him out. This is all assuming he's infected, but it looks like he is. Just saying."

Yarrow nodded in agreement. "Excellent deductive reasoning, Wither. This Alabaster, if he's infected, could be running from both of us. We're both big threats to him, seeing as I can cure the infected."

"Another thing," added Spyro. "Those corrupted seem to be connected somehow. Everything that one sees, hears, or knows is shared with their fellows. This means that your brother may very well be reporting in to that creature without you knowing about it."

"What are we going to do about this?" asked Onyx.

Cass rubbed her hands together and said, "Why don't we just let Spyro and Cynder do their thing with the column and then tell Alabaster they left? If he's clean, he'll come up when he's good and ready. If he's not, he'll walk right into our trap. Wither will be able to tell us if he's infected and Yarrow can take care of him if he is."

"Sounds like a plan," sighed Onyx. "I guess he really did set the Reconciler off, didn't he?"

"Probably," replied Cass with a soft voice. "But it's clearly not his fault. Let's not look at this as catching him, but helping him. Okay?"

"Alright," nodded Onyx as they continued on their way.

When they reached the base of the plateau, a pair of double doors set into the rock opened up for them. Cass turned around and pointed at Cynder and Wither, saying, "There's enough room in here for you two." Then gesturing at Spyro and Yarrow, she continued, "But you two should just fly up to the edge and wait for us to get there."

Spyro and Yarrow agreed and took off as the doors glided closed, beginning the ascension. It was a little cramped in the elevator with Cynder inside, but everyone else scrunched against the walls to make room for the dragoness. Once the elevator came to a halt, the doors slid open, causing Cynder to almost fall out of the tiny enclosure. She quickly straightened herself and looked around, eventually finding Spyro and Yarrow several feet away. They stood at the edge of the plateau and gazed past Cynder with looks of sheer awe.

Unsure as to what demanded their attention, she turned and stepped around the elevator booth to see what lay behind her. Rarely had anything so beautiful caught her eye. Mjölnir was like something out of the wildest dreamscape. The buildings stood tall, though not quite so tall as those in Warfang. What they were made of, Cynder had no idea. Never before had she seen a material that glowed such a brilliant scarlet. The light was dim, but there was such an abundance of it, that the city lit itself with its own dwellings. Every so often, luminous strands of some unidentifiable energy would noiselessly arch between the buildings, splashing crimson lightning across the mysterious structures.

Previously unnoticed motes of light slowly oozed up from the rock beneath their feet. So miniscule were these golden globules, that it was no surprise they had escaped the attention of the dragons until now. Once the specks of light were free of the ground they lazily drifted up past eye level before floating off to their unknown destinations.

As Cynder watched one particular particle rise up and disappear in the mass of its fellows, she focused her eyes on what rested up above. The buildings, much to her surprise, were connected by a vast, seemingly indecipherable network of tunnels that spanned the gaps between the red giants. It didn't seem at all presumptuous to assume that one could traverse every building in Mjölnir and not have to set foot outside.

It barely registered with Cynder as she stared at Mjölnir with unrelenting eyes that Wither had joined her side and was now surveying the city of the moles in much the same way. When Cass and Onyx looked up at their dragon companions, they couldn't help but share prideful smirks before turning their attention to the dragons once more. Onyx cleared his throat and spread his arms out as he raised his head high. "Welcome to Mjölnir, the heart of the mole nation!"

"It's magnificent," was all Spyro could utter.

"Whoa! This is amazing!" was Wither's reply.

However, Yarrow narrowed his eyes at a mote of light as it flew past his muzzle and quietly mumbled, "Things certainly have changed since the last time I was down here. Perhaps I should visit more often."

"Enough lollygagging," said Cass with a clap of her hands. "Let's not waste any more time with sightseeing. We have a job to do."

As the group made their way into the city, dozens of moles came into view. Many of them appeared to be in a hurry to get somewhere, but several gathered in groups and walked slowly, debating topics none of the dragons could even begin to understand. Any who saw the procession cheered and waved before continuing on their way. For the most part, the dragons went unnoticed by the citizens of Mjölnir. Wither noticed that they were all too engrossed in their conversations to pay much attention to anything around them. Leaning toward Onyx, Wither asked, "What's everyone talking about?"

Onyx looked around in confusion before realizing what Wither was referring to and replied with an amused grin, "They're scholars and philosophers. I imagine every cluster of moles you see is talking about something completely different. Much can be learned through rigorous debate. The merging of minds for the sake of knowledge accumulation and fine tuning is commonplace here. It's one of the ways we continue to grow as a people."

Leaning down, Spyro asked curiously, "And what about all the lights? Where are all of these floating ones coming from?"

Onyx held out a hand and several of the lights coalesced in his open palm, forming a shining beacon that he could control with his hand movements. "We call these golden lights vessels. They are all actually a part of a vast, semiconscious nervous system. There's an intangible intelligence that permeates everything down here. We're not exactly sure what it is, but it responds to our mental activity, allowing us to control the vessels with our minds." Onyx dropped his arm and the ball of light he had been holding disintegrated into hundreds of vessels, which drifted away again on an invisible air current.

Cass glared at Onyx and mumbled softly, "Don't tell them everything."

Onyx waved a hand at her scolding and continued to play tour guide. "As for the buildings, they glow because the alloy they are crafted of is charged with low levels of our special energy. We make them glow red because red light doesn't ruin your vision in the dark."

Ignoring the explanation of the buildings, Yarrow asked, "There's an intangible intelligence here? I've never heard of such a thing. Nor can that be true. If it were, my magic would allow me to feel the life force in the air. All I feel are the moles throughout the city and the rest of us."

Onyx watched as Wither tried and failed to call the vessels to him, vainly holding his paw out only to be rewarded with disappointment. The mole cleared his throat before turning back to face their path and vaguely replying, "Oh, I guess that's just what we came up with to explain it."

Cynder prodded Wither with her tail to get his attention and asked, "What are you doing?"

With a frustrated huff, Wither replied as he glared at a mote of light, "I'm trying to do that cool thing Onyx did, but it's not working."

Onyx turned around and noticed what Wither was attempting. "Hm, that's odd. It always follows the commands of anyone who fancies playing around with it."

Wither dragged his tail along the ground with a groan as he gave up trying to play with the light. Onyx turned back around and pointed up ahead. "You see that structure over there?"

The dragons followed Onyx's tiny finger to some sort of construct about twice the size of an ancient dragon Yarrow's age. Two spiraling prongs sprouted straight up from the top of it, flickering with lightning that arced between them just like the buildings up above. As they neared it, they realized it was emitting a low hum just barely audible. "This is the power station we were referring to," explained Cass quickly. "There's a port down at the bottom to extract energy, but you can probably just reach the pylons at the top. Go ahead and grab them, it shouldn't hurt."

"Shouldn't hurt?" inquired Cynder with a hint of concern. "Are you sure that's safe?"

"This form of energy doesn't really have destructive capabilities. It can be used to power destructive devices, but the power itself only serves to breathe life into our creations."

Slowly, Cynder reached a paw up toward one of the pylons, but Spyro smacked it away and said simply, "No."

He then grabbed the pylon quickly with his eyes screwed shut. When nothing happened, he peeked out to see Cynder raising an eyebrow at him. "Oh no. My hero. Are you dead?"

Letting his paw slide down to his side, Spyro grumbled, "Shut up. I was trying to spare you potential pain or death or something."

Clearing his throat, Yarrow stepped forward, bustling Spyro out of the way. "If you two love birds can continue your quarrel over there, thank you." He then placed a paw around the nearest pylon and closed his eyes. Whispering to himself, he quietly exclaimed, "This is strange. It's like . . . it's like . . . the world."

"What's that?" asked Wither with a hint of concern.

Yarrow raised his voice and repeated himself. "This energy feels like the world. It's not life energy, necessarily. No, it's something far more pure than that, even. It feels like . . . a hatchling, perhaps even an egg. It feels like . . . a seed. It's bursting with vast and far reaching potential. I've seen only rare glimpses of a slightly more specified form of energy like this. But this . . . this is the closest thing I can think of to raw magic not yet categorized by element or capability. Its signature is more like the blueprint for the creation of energy than actual energy itself."

Cass and Onyx stared at one another in awe at his assessment of the power based solely on how it felt to him. Wither shifted up to the area between the pylons and touched one, too. However, as soon as his scaled paw met the metal, the energy was violently repelled by his presence. The next arc of lightning that attempted to bridge the gap between the pylons came within several inches of his body and suddenly rebounded, sending the strokes of light lashing chaotically in all directions.

"Wither, get down from there!" shouted Spyro.

He didn't have to be told twice. Wither shifted back down to the ground between his mother and father. "Why did that happen when _I_ touched it?"

"I think I see now," said Onyx in realization. "Your element has something to do with antimatter, right?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Wither replied, "I don't really know what that means. I just call my element nothing, because that's what I can do. I have the power to take things away."

Shaking his head, Onyx said, "I'm sorry, that's a little vague. What does that mean, exactly?"

"It means what I said. I can take things away. Like when I shift. What I do is eliminate the space between two points and then cross the gap in an instant. I can do it because without all that space in the way, it's like I'm actually right next to my destination. I can take other stuff away, too. Anything, really. Even energy."

"Space, matter, and energy cancellation? That defies all the laws of physics!" shouted Onyx incredulously. This made even Yarrow break his concentration to stare at the mole. Onyx looked Wither up and down before rambling to himself in a frenzy. "No, no it's just not possible. All draconic elements can be explained by our science. All of our experiments in our labs prove it. But you can't just eliminate matter or energy from existence. You can only convert one into the other, and even then, only with a massive power source at your disposal. Antimatter would explain all of that away, but the nullification of the very fabric of space, too? Inconceivable! Perhaps the creation of a micro worm hole is a more accurate explanation for the instantaneous transmission of matter from point A to point B, but that's waaay too advanced for us. Even at the level our science has brought us to at this point, it could take years, perhaps decades to even begin to understand these new manifestations of draconic magic. The theories on this stuff are only a couple years old themselves!"

"What's that you said about being able to explain dragon magic?" asked Cynder with a hint of suspicion in her throat. "Have you been trying to secretly study us or something? There is no explaining magic. Every dragon knows that."

"The magic part, no," returned Onyx with his head held high. "How you dragons acquire your energy remains a frustrating mystery, but how you _use_ it does not." Pointing a quivering finger at Wither, he continued, "But your son displays abilities that far outclass that of any other dragon, both in capability and complexity."

"We already knew that," replied Spyro off handedly with a dismissive wave of his paw.

"What bothers me," Onyx replied in slight annoyance, "is that I don't understand it."

Yarrow extricated himself from the pylon and patted Onyx gently on the head. "None of us do. He is the first of his kind. We are all learning of his abilities with him. Only time and practice will reveal what he can do with his unique gift. I am aware that it is bothersome for your kind not to understand how something works. Just as it is in the nature of a dragon to wield magic with great proficiency, it is conversely in the nature of a mole to be insatiably curious. However, you will have to set aside your ponderings for the time being. There is much to do. First up on our list is to fix that wing."

As he said this, Yarrow stepped closer to Cynder and unfolded her wing, almost knocking her off balance in the process. Stumbling to the side and leaning on Spyro for support, Cynder shook her wing and said, "Hey, at least warn me before doing that."

Ignoring her protests, Yarrow sat back and placed both paws on either side of her wing, forming a circuit. All of the veins in his body lit up a pale bluish-green. The light first blinked on in his eyes, but after a moment of meditation and rhythmic breathing, it spread outward from his heart. It traveled down the pathways inside his body, reaching his limbs and plunging beneath Cynder's leathery membrane. Slowly, the gaping holes opened up as the scar tissue was vaporized. However, though the wounds were raw once more, Cynder clearly felt no pain. She watched in delight as the magic manifested itself in the form of new skin, allowing the gaps in her wing to mend together without spilling so much as a single drop of blood.

When the process was complete, Yarrow released her wing and gave her a wrinkly eyed smile. "Go on, give it a try."

Cynder stretched the newly revivified appendage and flared her wings out as far as they went. Then, with a loud whoosh and a powerful blast of air, the black dragoness shot into the air. The moles watched in awe as Cynder climbed high into the open air above the city. When she passed the top of the tallest building, she circled up above like a vulture, relishing the sight of the ground so far beneath her. After a few quick aerial backflips, she descended and came to a halt next to the group, landing with the grace of a butterfly.

The joy in Cynder's eyes could only be matched by that in her giddy grin as she turned to Yarrow and graciously said, "Thank you so much, Yarrow. This means so much to me."

"You're very welcome, Cynder," replied Yarrow as he smoothed some of her scales down from their ruffled excitement. "I'm always glad to heal the sick and injured. And thanks to this amazing power source," Yarrow eyed the power station for a moment before turning back to Cynder. "It was nothing at all."

After giving Yarrow a quick bow in final thanks, Cynder turned to the moles with a look of disbelief. "You weren't kidding! That column looks like it got tackled by the Destroyer. And all of that ice getting in the way is going to be a problem, too. Fixing that thing isn't going to be easy."

"You saw it?" asked Spyro before grimacing at her reaction to it and asking in a low tone, "How bad is it?"

Cynder turned to Spyro and opened her mouth, but then closed it and turned her head to the side, licking the inside of her cheek in thought. After several seconds, she turned back to him and replied, "You just have to see it."

Spyro scratched big gouge marks in the stone beneath him and whispered, "Great."

"Hey," remarked Cass with mild irritation. "This is one of our roads."

"Oh, sorry." Spyro absently brushed the spot with his open paw, leaving behind perfectly smooth stone. "Okay, let's get going then. I want to get this out of the way. How far is the column, Cynder?"

"The edge of the city is about three hundred yards that way. The column is roughly a mile and a half further out from there."

"Sounds good," replied Spyro with a deep breath. Patting Cynder on the back he asked, "Feeling better?"

"Yes, much," was Cynder's enthusiastic reply.

"Excellent, I was getting depressed watching you walk everywhere with that bum wing." Spyro looked up and addressed the rest of the group without looking at them. "I think it'll be best if we go on ahead and fix the column now." After saying this, Spyro turned to Yarrow and asked, "Do you think you can keep an eye on Wither for us while we're away? Maybe show him around the city?" he queried as he turned to the moles.

Yarrow glanced sideways at Wither as the youngling perked up at his name. Seeing that his parents and Yarrow were staring at him and looking at each other in that strange way adults sometimes do, a frown knit its way across his face. "Hey, what's going on? I can look after myself. I don't need anyone to watch me. Do you think I'm going to break something on my way to the edge of the city? I think that's it right over there, isn't it?" asked Wither as he looked around his parents and pointed to a gap between several buildings. "I can see it from here."

Stepping in front of Wither and blocking his view, Cynder leaned down and said in a rather motherly voice, "Wither, don't you think it would be fun to look around Mjölnir with the moles and see more of the things they have built? I'm sure there is a lot of exciting stuff to see here, and who knows when we'll come back, if ever."

Shaking his head, Wither looked up and replied innocently, "No, I've seen enough. Besides, I want to watch you and dad fix the column. Maybe I can help you. You said there was a lot of ice in the way? I can take it away for you."

Spyro sidled up next to Cynder and held his head high, deciding not to lean down to speak to Wither at his level. "No, son. The column relies on that ice for support. The moles said so themselves. If you remove the ice, the whole thing could collapse. This requires skill and care."

"Plus," added Cynder helpfully, "I'm not so certain you could nullify all of that ice. Your powers are great," she continued quickly, seeing the look on his face at this, "but maybe not that great. We've already established that you have your limits. I don't want to see you reach yours halfway into the job."

Wither looked to Yarrow for help, but the ancient declined his head toward the youngling's parents and said, "They give valid points, Wither. Perhaps it would be best if you sat back and watched."

"Okay," replied Wither cheerily. "I guess I'm okay with that."

Spyro cleared his throat and looked up as he asked, "Are you sure you wouldn't rather continue a tour of the city? You could learn a lot, I'm sure."

Wither turned back to his parents and squinted his eyes at them. "You . . . you don't want me to watch you, do you?"

Yarrow whipped his tail in amusement at the looks on the parents' faces as they struggled for an answer. Stepping in, he spoke to the whole family. "Perhaps it would not be such a tragedy if an admiring son saw what his parents can really do." Spyro and Cynder gave Yarrow looks that pleaded with him to take their side, but all this got from him was an addendum to his judgment. "Is what a good arbiter would say in this situation."

Realizing that Yarrow had taken advantage of his new position in their family for the first time, both dragons bowed their heads and turned to Wither. "You may watch," said Spyro with a cautionary tone.

"But," continued Cynder with sternness in her eyes, "You'll not interfere with our work. No matter what happens. We have it under control, you understand?"

Nodding his head in enthusiastic affirmation, Wither shifted up to Yarrow's back and pointed a claw to the edge of the city, shouting, "Onward!"

They continued on foot, satisfying the steadily growing impatience of the two moles who guided them. When they approached the city outskirts, the buildings moved aside to reveal the plateau's edge. As they passed the last building obstructing their view, the column was revealed. Wither stared at the colossal rock formation, focusing his gaze on the blue-white ice that dominated the center of the structure. Even at the distance it stood from him, it was as wide as Wither's paw with his foreleg fully extended before him. The center segment where the polar patch was placed stood as high as it was wide. There was no telling how many tons of ice needed to be replaced by rock.

"Wow," was Wither's whispered response to the sight of the column as several spotlights at the edge of the city refracted off the icy surface of the temporary segment replacement. Seeing the project his parents had ahead of them, Wither understood his mother's concern at the thought of him attempting to remove the ice. There was far too much to remove in one go, Wither admitted to himself. Flopping down on Yarrow's neck, Wither kicked his forelegs as they dangled over either side. "They were right. There's no way I could have removed all of that ice. I'm not strong enough," he pouted.

Yarrow stopped several feet away from the edge of the plateau and waved Spyro and Cynder on. He then raised his head to watch the heroes fly away and said, "That's right, Wither. You're not strong enough. You have many years ahead of you before you could prove useful in a situation like this. Don't worry yourself over it. You're not expected to shoulder undertakings like this yet. Almost no normal dragon is either. Not even the combined efforts of the rest of the elders in their prime would be able to pull this off in my humble estimation. Your parents are special, though. Together, they should prove capable enough. Understand that this is no small task."

"I know," replied Wither sullenly as he continued to kick his legs back and forth. "I just wish I could help."

"Be thankful you are allowed to watch," replied Yarrow with a chuckle. "I'm of the impression that your parents don't wish for you to see them at the height of their power."

"Thank you for helping me," said Wither as he lightly punched Yarrow just under the base of one of his horns on the back of his head. "It sure is nice having an arbiter-parent to take my side."

Yarrow watched Spyro and Cynder as they neared the column. "So you _did_ eavesdrop on us. I thought so. What did you hear?"

Wither stopped kicking his legs and looked down, staring at the scales of Yarrow's neck. "Just . . . that you are going to be a third parent to help my mom and dad take care of me properly."

"And?" asked Yarrow patiently.

"And, that my mom and dad were the ones to tell you about my . . . possible condition."

Yarrow cocked his head slightly in thought, taking care not to tip Wither off his perch. "Eh, I think that's all we talked about. Sounds like you heard just about everything."

"I'm sorry, Yarrow. I wasn't trying to eavesdrop on you. It was my parents I was trying to listen to," explained Wither.

"Nonetheless, it was a disrespectful action to eavesdrop on your elders, though, on the other paw, I can't say I blame you considering the context of our conversation. I was a curious youngling when I was your age, too, so I don't suppose your parents need to know about it."

"Thank you, Yarrow." Wither looked back up and noticed that his parents had finally reached the column and were now hovering on either side of it. "Oh, look. They made it."

The two dragons standing at the edge of the plateau watched as those who had flown out to the column steadied themselves and slowly approached the sides. First, Spyro touched down, his razor sharp claws piercing the ice, then Cynder. For moment, they only hung there, straining to cling to the ice. Then both dragons lit up like stars in the night sky.

There was no explosion, but a shockwave of energy rushed outward. Wither's jaw dropped as he watched the white surge of power expand in all directions. "Brace yourselves," warned Yarrow to both Wither and the moles.

Wither's arms found their way around Yarrow's neck and held on for dear life. The dull boom was the first thing they could hear. It wasn't long after that until the whooshing sound of air being forced away hit their ears. When the wave itself arrived, it was as though the arctic winds of the harshest reaches of the north had mistakenly found their way to Mjölnir. It screeched by like a banshee retreating from the light. A deadening cold traveled in its wake, freezing the moisture in the air in an instant. Ice crystals formed on Yarrow's scales around Wither's paws and all around his face. The moles were just as unprepared as the youngling atop Yarrow. Onyx pulled his oculars back over his eyes to protect as much of his face as possible while Cass wrapped her cowl ever tighter around her face.

After a moment of blistering cold, the wind subsided, leaving nothing but the array of dazzling lights off in the distance where the column stood. Raising his head slowly, Wither peeked over Yarrow's head again and saw that the ice all around the column was completely gone. In its place was a massive vortex of rapidly flashing light. It was yellow in coloration, but Wither couldn't tell quite what that meant. "What's going on? I thought they said they had to remove the ice carefully? They just did the same thing I would have done."

"I'm not sure what they're doing," replied Yarrow curiously, "but after they broke the ice down into particles, your father flew to the center of the column and started spinning rapidly. That column of energy is electric, but I must say I'm none too certain as to what the significance of such a move would be."

"What? Electric, you say?" asked Onyx. Placing a hand under his chin, he remarked, "How clever. Could it be that Spyro's acting as an electromagnet, using the iron particles embedded in the rock to magnetically repel the ceiling to keep it aloft?"

Cass glanced back and forth between the massive electric tornado; Cynder, who was calling the earth below for nearly a mile around to coalesce at the base of the column and rise; and Onyx, who watched the process in awe. "That . . . can't be. I mean, I'd certainly believe a mole could come up with a plan like that, but. . ." Cass trailed off quietly and turned back to the show as Yarrow gave her a sideways glance.

Wither looked on in utter disbelief as his father seemingly held the whole world up, and his mother commanded an entire arm of the earth to reach back up to resume that duty. The twisting rock below flawlessly flowed upward like a spiraling river to slowly but surely reach its destination. The forceful change in the terrain left unavoidable magic scarring on the cavern plain below, but the results were clearly to be unparalleled. Wither now saw what Yarrow had meant when he said no other dragon or group of dragons could hope to accomplish such a task. Watching his parents manipulate such leviathan portions of the world almost made his heart stop. And deep down, somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he realized that the Purple Dragon was a beautiful, incredible, terrible thing.

_Such power_, thought Wither to himself. How could he ever hope to surpass a creature so one with the world, so in tune with the elements that governed the entire planet everyone called home. _How can I possibly be strong enough to fight something like that? It's not possible._

"**Of course you're strong enough. All things are possible, dearest one."**

The world seemed to slow down. The violent noises of shifting earth and pulsing electricity became muffled. Without realizing it, everything eventually stopped and all was drowned out around Wither. He looked down and asked more to himself than anyone, "How? It just doesn't seem possible. How could anyone ever stand up to anything like that?"

"**The answer lies in your question, promised one. Nobody can."**

"Then what am I supposed to do?" asked Wither in despair. "Malefor will overtake Warfang with powers like that, especially since he has some of my powers, too."

"**Again, the answer is simpler than you realize, hollow one. If you are to become strong enough, you must always allow me to join you. Do that, and nothing is beyond you. Become Nobody, and nobody can oppose you."**

The world suddenly burst into an explosion of light and sound as the events unfolding resumed. Wither jolted up, startled by the unexpected noise, but then cocked his head in confusion. For the life of him, he couldn't tell what it was that had startled him so. Shaking his head of dizziness, he turned back to observe the rest of the reformation of the column, but was surprised to find that it had nearly finished stitching itself up.

A thin disc of light stretched around the last several feet of the gap in the column near the top. As the distance between the bottom segment and the top closed, the light retracted and Spyro shot out of the crack with only ten feet to spare. With a groan, the ceiling protested its newfound lack of support, but it was silenced with the satisfying crunch of rock on rock as the lower segment finished bridging the gap.

Once it was firmly in place, both Spyro and Cynder chased each other in a circle around the column, welding the rock together with searing flames whose heat could rival that of the lifeblood at the planet's heart. Dazed by the display, the moles could only think to slowly raise their hands and clap. Faint cheers could be heard erupting all over the city behind them as the dragons finished their work and started the journey back to the edge of the plateau.

Wither hopped down from Yarrow's back, sliding down one of his legs before landing awkwardly and nearly tripping. "That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life," commented Wither.

Yarrow lowered his head in a single nod and agreed, "Their methods as well as their abilities are most impressive. I'm surprised at the approach they took. It is with great pride that I say they have learned from the best. I'm glad to see that the rest of the elders have been teaching them well."

"Yes," replied Onyx enthusiastically. "I'd say you're right. That was pure brilliance. And look at the column. You can barely tell there was ever any damage at all. The only apparent difference is all that twisted stuff. What do you dragons call it?"

"The magic scars?" asked Yarrow.

"Yes, the magic scars," said Onyx in thanks. "Other than that, it's perfect."

"I'm sure Spyro and Cynder would be happy to hear that," replied Yarrow as he eyed Cass. "Especially the part about how brilliant it was."

The flapping of wings caught their attention and turned their faces upward. Spyro and Cynder alighted on the plateau once again. Cynder immediately buckled, but Spyro was there to catch her before she hit the ground. "Whoa, easy there. Take it slow. That was rough work."

Wither raised his head and asked with mild concern, "Is mom okay?"

Spyro smiled at Wither and replied, "She's just weak is all. She may have the powers of a purple dragon, but she doesn't have the spark of one. Her magic is only enhanced by the remnants of Malefor's, so she's not quite as capable as I am."

Wither looked his mom over, worry lines tracing his features. "I wish I could help."

"No need," replied Cass. "We have energy to spare. She can refuel before you leave."

"But before we go," interjected Yarrow, "there's one more thing we still need to attend to."

"Ah, yes. My brother," remembered Onyx, hanging his head low.

"Come, we need to take care of that next," replied Cass. "And also . . . thank you, Spyro, Cynder. Your help is much appreciated."

"Glad to help," said Spyro distractedly as he helped Cynder back toward the pylon.

The rest of the group followed them back into Mjölnir, slowing their pace so that Cynder could keep up. When they reached the outskirts of the city, a crowd was awaiting them, cheering them on and bowing in the traditional sign of respect toward dragons. The many moles parted to allow the procession passage back into the city. After enduring the indistinguishable murmur of the crowd for several long minutes, they finally reached the power station. Spyro curled his tail around Cynder's foreleg and reached up to place a paw on one of the pylons.

Veins of electricity danced around just above the surface of their scales as the power flowed harmlessly through Spyro and into Cynder to rejuvenate her magic supply and put the perk back in her eyes. When she'd had enough, she unraveled Spyro's tail and told him he could let go.

She faced the crowd to give the citizens of Mjölnir a grin before turning back to Onyx and Cass, lowering her voice so as not to project too loudly. "I think it's time you called Alabaster up here. I want to have a little chat with him."


	24. Chapter 23 Dragon History

Chapter 23- Dragon History

Sunbaked sands stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction. Warfang had disappeared from Helix's range of vision long ago, though he had never bothered to look back. The sun was going down, but the ground beneath his feet was still scorching. His trek through the Mira Desert had forced him to crystalize the blood around his paws to keep it from boiling. Another problem was the wind. Without so much as a single bush or tree to block the violent gusts that dashed this way and that, Helix was pelted by sand on all sides, forcing him to constantly force the sand out of his system when it mixed in with his body. He tried crystalizing his entire body to keep the sand from melting beneath his false skin, but this hardened his joints and made movement difficult.

"What a waste of space," observed Helix. "Miles and miles around, and not a single biomass to convert. It's horrible. It's ridiculous."

"_It's a darn tragedy, isn't it?_"

"You can say that again, Alabaster. You might want to watch out, by the way. I'm certain that those two dragons who are capable of removing your gift will try to trick you into coming back up out of your little hidey-hole before they leave."

"_You don't say? You know, you probably got that idea from my intelligence. There's no need for you to relay my own thoughts back to me._"

"Easy there. I'm still getting used to being connected to you. You're right, it was your thought first, but it's hard to recognize that until you point it out."

"_Ah well, it doesn't really matter anyway, does it? We should stop thinking in terms of 'me' and 'you.' It's us now._"

"You sure catch on quick, don't you?"

"_I learned that particular ideology from you, my friend. You just keep making your way to the Creator. I've got some business to attend to in Mjölnir at the moment._"

"Alright, stay safe and keep a low profile."

"_Will do, Helix._"

Alabaster opened his eyes. The flaming hot desert disappeared from behind his eyelids to be replaced by his personal laboratory. He sat in his chair at his desk, drumming his fingers on the cool metallic surface. After several minutes of thought, his walkie-talkie crackled to life. "Alabaster? Are you there, brother?"

Alabaster reached for the device on his desk and pushed the button down. "Yes, Onyx. I'm here. Do you need something?"

"No, I just thought I'd tell you that Spyro and Cynder successfully repaired the damage to the column. Isn't that wonderful?"

Alabaster took a moment to muster up as much enthusiasm as he could before replying, "Yes, that's fantastic news! Now we can all rest easy knowing the cavern ceiling won't collapse."

For a while, there was no response, but then Onyx crackled back on and said, "Sorry, I was just saying bye to the dragons. So, what are you working on in Aero Labs?"

"Initially I was struck with the nagging fear that I had left one of the hydrogen hoses running in my lab," replied Alabaster after noticing the row of various gas tanks against the far wall. "If that were true it could have caused a massive explosion and destroyed all of my work, but once I got down here and realized that my worries were for naught I was struck by inspiration and decided to continue working on my latest personal project."

"Really?" replied Onyx with genuine excitement. "Do tell, brother."

"Ah ah ah," said Alabaster with a wave of his finger to the open air. He smiled to himself and kicked back in his seat, resting his feet on his desk and continuing, "I'll not spoil it for you. There are still several bugs that need to be worked out before it's ready. Besides, I'm still waiting for a response to my form of requisition for a spot on the team developing the Hydra'ulic."

Onyx took his time replying to Alabaster's hint, but once he did so, it was with a tinge of annoyance. "Alabaster, the chiefs have gone over this a dozen times already. The Hydra'ulic is a work meant to join the ranks of achievements on the scale of the Reconciler, provided we ever even finish that thing. Of course I'd love for you to participate in the creation of such a glorious work of art, but Aero Labs has very little to offer something so heavy."

Deciding to take off on the issue with his older brother, Alabaster calmly replied, "That didn't seem to stop everyone from accepting my aid in constructing the Reconciler."

Onyx's response came without hesitation, almost as though it had been repeated a hundred times. "You know that's because we needed a top notch aero physicist to design the projectiles and draw the blueprints for the barrel. Without that, the Reconciler wouldn't boast half the speed, power, and accuracy it possesses."

Inspecting the trinkets littering the desk in his office, Alabaster dully replied, "Yes well, be that as it may, I still consider my application pending. If I ever get that status update, maybe I'll let you in on the goings on down here. Anyway, I've got to go. Thanks for the news. See you later."

When the radio was silent once more, Onyx looked to Cass and the others. "I don't know what to do now. He doesn't appear to be in any hurry to get up here, but that doesn't mean anything. Do you want to stay down here and wait for him to come up?"

Everyone huddled together at the edge of Mjölnir, mulling the idea over. After a while, Spyro stretched his muscles and let out a loud yawn. "I don't know about you, but we've had a really long day helping the sick and then coming down here. I know I speak for all of us when I say we're tired." Spyro looked to his family and Yarrow to see their nods of affirmation.

"We understand how important it is to catch any potential threat," continued Yarrow. "But Wither has exhausted himself curing the sick all morning, his mother and father just fixed that massive column, and I was killed several days ago. The body you see before you is a replica that I crafted and filled with my memories to cheat death a little longer. It's still weak from disuse. You may have enough energy down here to fuel our magical abilities for quite some time, but we're physically spent and require good old fashioned sleep to recharge our bodies and minds. I don't know what time it is right now because I can't see the sky, but I imagine it's getting late. Why don't you simply keep an eye on this Alabaster of yours and inform us of anymore unusual activity?"

With a sigh Onyx replied, "I suppose that will just have to do. We'll make sure to keep you posted in case he exhibits any violent or uncharacteristic tendencies."

As the moles led the dragons back through the tunnels leading up to Warfang, Spyro felt a tingle creep down his spine. Looking to his right, he noticed Cynder's face held an uneasy expression. He brushed her foreleg as he took another step, gaining her attention. "What's the matter?"

She lifted her eyes to meet his. They were filled with an unmistakable doubt and worry. "I'm scared, Spyro. Of what that strain does. No one should be forced to live for another, to eat, sleep, and breathe only because it is wished of you so that you may remain useful. I know that feeling all too well. I won't stand by and allow others to suffer like that."

Curling his tail around Cynder's, Spyro nuzzled her neck and replied softly, "I can't say I know what that's like, but you already know from experience that I won't let that happen either. If Alabaster is suffering, I'll be back down in Mjölnir as soon as I hear of it."

"Me too," added Wither with a determination that startled both of his parents. "If it turns out anyone else is still sick, I'll reduce the infection to nothing until that's all that's left of it."

Cynder gave Wither a loving smile and scooped him up with one of her paws. As she held him, she rubbed up against Spyro and hummed, "Thank you, my wonderful boys."

Cass and Onyx waved back at the dragons from under the statue of the two heroes before closing the tunnel entrance and disappearing back into Warfang's dark underbelly. Yarrow bade the Spyro family good night and made his way back home.

Spyro and the rest of his family made their way up to the master bedroom once Yarrow had taken his leave. After the defense orbs were activated, Spyro and Cynder fell on their bed, followed quickly by Wither. The gray dragon snuggled closer to his parents, seeking the warmth that they could share and settled with his back against his mother's belly. Spyro opened his weary eyes and looked Wither dead in the face from mere inches away. "You forgot to close the book."

Wither raised an eyebrow and asked, "What are you talking about?"

Cynder wrapped her tail around herself, pressing Wither tighter against her chest. "The _Magna Convexia Dominus_. It's still open to the page you were looking at."

Though Wither's lack of pigmentation made it impossible, Spyro noticed all too easily his son's equivalent to going pale. The look on his face was priceless. Spyro raised a paw to silence Wither before he could make a sound. With a grim smile, he raised himself up and leaned on one foreleg. "While I don't exactly approve of you going through our stuff without permission, you have a right to know what that book has to say." Wither visibly relaxed when he felt he wasn't in any serious trouble and waited patiently for his father to continue. When Spyro saw that he was listening, he pressed forward.

"That book was given to us by Yarrow not long after we returned to Warfang from our battle with Malefor twenty years ago. He wanted to make sure we knew how to protect ourselves from a certain type of danger that only purple dragons have to face."

Nodding in understanding, Wither replied, "I know. Yarrow told me about how Convexity works."

Hanging his head, Spyro sighed. "So he beat us to it then, huh? I'm sorry. We wanted to be the ones to tell you. We would have done so when you were a bit older, but . . . things have changed in the past few days."

Cynder gently placed a paw on Wither's side and continued. "That first day you demonstrated the ability you possess that's so similar to our Convexity, we thought it was only Malefor's doing, but it's clear now that it is very much a part of you and your power. Wither, we don't like that you can't remember what happened when you faced Malefor, and the fact that it made you many times more powerful than you truly are is all the more daunting. That's a sign that you've been touched by darkness."

Spyro leaned down and added, "The fact that your powers are also marginally stronger now is an even greater concern. Being touched by darkness does that to you. You'll never be as powerful as you will with darkness on your side, but every time you use it, it gets you closer. And every time you use it, it gets easier to slip back into it. If you are tapping into the powers of darkness unchecked, you'll dip into it so much so often, you'll eventually cross that line when you won't be able to go back."

"That's what happened to Malefor, sweetie," said Cynder softly.

"Is that what's going to happen to you?" asked Wither carefully.

Spyro shook his head and gestured to the desk beside the bed. "We have studied the power of Convexity as thoroughly as possible. We use it with strict moderation, reserving it for only the most extreme circumstances. There are also several exercises in anger management that we must perform on a daily basis since we have already been slightly corrupted by our usage of it. Our bottled up emotions can force us to slip into the power without even meaning to, thus worsening the problem. It's manageable, but a curse we must deal with every day."

"And it's something we don't want you to have to go through," added Cynder. "Oh, I can't even think what I'd do if you became corrupted like us. This is why tomorrow your friends will be given a day off, and Yarrow, your father, and I are going to force you into a Hypoactive state and study its effects on you."

Wither perked up and asked with poorly disguised excitement, "And if it doesn't do anything to me, then I can use it whenever I want?"

Spyro and Cynder shifted around uneasily at their son's question. After they exchanged quick glances, Spyro replied, "If nothing comes of it, you will be granted limited control over this power. It's better to be safe than sorry. You should continue to use the power sparingly and always be slow to do so. It's not healthy to rely so heavily on so powerful a crutch. We don't want you becoming addicted to it."

"We leave for Yarrow's garden in the morning," said Cynder with a nudge to Wither's side. "You best get some sleep. There's no telling what tomorrow will bring, so we want you to be prepared for anything."

"What about my friends? How will they know—"

Spyro pressed a claw against his son's lips and replied, "Yarrow is stopping by all of your friends' homes right now to bring them the news. Don't worry, Wither. We have everything under control. You just focus on sleep and preparing yourself for tomorrow."

"But what about that creature? Did anyone ever find it?"

Cynder sighed and replied wearily, "Again, you need not worry yourself. The rest of the elders will be reporting their findings to Yarrow when he returns home."

"Why doesn't anyone ever tell me these things?" asked Wither in annoyance as he tossed his head back.

Spyro pinched one of Wither's horns between two of his claws and turned his son's head to face him. With a smile and clearly exaggerated cheeriness he replied, "Because you're not an elder. It's none of your business. Now go to sleep."

With a grumble, Wither buried himself beneath the cushions underneath his parents and dug at the pillows until there was an air hole leading out the back of the pile so he could breathe. "Comfy?" asked Cynder once he was settled.

"Mmhmm."

"Alright, sweet dreams."

"Good night, Wither," came Spyro's muffled voice through the cushions.

"Good night."

Morning came far too quickly. The world was a blur. Wither could faintly register the feeling of movement. There was also an ugly noise accompanying it. It sounded like scraping. He opened his eyes with a groan and realized that his dad was literally dragging him out of bed by his tail. "Huh? Hey, what the—"

"Get. Up." Spyro was staring down at Wither from overhead with a slight scowl. "I know we told you to get some sleep, but this is ridiculous. Do you know what time it is?"

With a silent yawn and a seemingly never ending stretch, Wither shook his head. Spyro slapped his son on the haunch and said, "It's almost quarter sun! We told Yarrow we'd meet him in his garden in the morning. We tried to let you sleep in considering the day you're going to have, but you're over doing it. Now come on. Your mother has breakfast waiting on the roof."

When Wither curled back up on the marble floor and attempted to cover his face with his tail spade, Spyro leaned down, opened his jaws, and grabbed Wither by the scruff of his neck. Wither's entire body was instantly paralyzed, and he hung from his father's mouth like a hatchling. When they reached the roof, Cynder admonished, "Look at you. We haven't had to carry you around like that since you were three. Was it that hard to get out of bed?"

Spyro plopped Wither down in front of his meal and released him from the hatchling hold. Once he could move again, Wither shook his body and replied as he wiped the sleep out of his eyes, "I guess. Yesterday must have made me more tired than I thought."

"Today's probably going to be harder unless you get lucky, so eat up," said Cynder as Spyro joined her and started to eat.

"How long is today going to take?" asked Wither as he took a bite.

"That's entirely up to you," replied Spyro. "The quicker you go Hypoactive, the more of the day you'll have to yourself."

"Can I go spend time with my friends?"

Cynder swallowed her food and said with a grin, "You can do whatever you want as long as you don't leave the city or break anything."

"Really?" asked Wither in surprise.

"Sure. You're a big boy. You can take care of yourself now. No need for an escort anymore, I don't think. No one's going to want to attack you even if they had a good reason."

Spyro licked his lips and added with a chuckle, "I guess he's not used to that. He always needed an escort before he discovered his powers, and ever since he did reveal them it's been nonstop training and preparing for war every day."

"I guess you're right," replied Cynder as she stopped to think about it. "He's not really had much of a chance to wander around on his own except for that week he was deceiving us about not knowing what his element was."

Spyro looked back to Wither and continued, "Anyway, some of your friends stopped by earlier this morning. They wanted to know if they could watch your session with Yarrow and us, but we had to refuse their presence. It's a potentially dangerous exercise that should be attended only by yourself and the most skilled masters. They decided they would show Wylee around the city and told us that they would leave one of the twins outside Yarrow's home to wait for you and take you to them when you're done."

"Okay, sounds great," said Wither in response.

When they were finished with their food they took off with Wither held firmly in Spyro's claws. A brief flight over the city brought them to Yarrow's garden. Wither looked over the contents of the enclosure created by Yarrow's massive ring shaped house. Already, half of the barren soil had been replaced by the most beautiful assortment of foliage. "Wow, Yarrow's been working overtime," commented Wither as they landed in the still stark portion of Yarrow's private sanctuary.

The ancient dragon made his way over to them from the flowers he had been perking up. "My my, someone overslept, I'm assuming?"

Spyro and Cynder both pointed down at Wither who smiled innocently and shrugged his shoulders. "I was really tired?"

With a wrinkly-eyed smile, Yarrow pat Wither on the head and replied, "That's quite alright. After today, you'll have more than earned it." Yarrow's face dried up in an instant and he looked to Spyro and Cynder. "Let's begin."

Without the slightest warning Yarrow slammed his massive paw into Wither's side so hard the youngling was actually picked up off the ground and carried several feet through the air before he hit the dirt and skidded to a halt. The unexpected ferocity of the blow from Yarrow shocked Wither and knocked the air out of his lungs, which made his collision with the ground all the more painful.

Before Wither even had time to get up, let alone come to terms with what had just happened, his father picked him up and threw him to his mother, who did a one eighty and smacked Wither with the broad side of her steel tail spade. Time seemed to slow down as Wither flew through the air, once again unable to breathe because of the second powerful impact. He hit the ground face first this time, a disgusting crack sounding in his ears. Pain blossomed across his entire body. As he lifted his head and found it in him to take a breath, he weakly asked, "Why?"

Spyro stood over him once more as Wither opened his already swelling eyes. The Purple Dragon let loose with a blazing inferno, nearly incinerating Wither where he lay. With a cry of fear and despair, Wither allowed his body to slip into nothingness. As the flames danced all around his nonexistent form, scorching the rock beneath him, he got up and hobbled away. However, Cynder let out a shriek that shattered Wither's concentration, forcing his body back into the real world and opening him up for another bone crunching blow from Yarrow's enormous paw.

This time, Wither escaped into a dark cloud, which deposited him safely in the Void. Wither dissolved the cloud with a thought and opened several more all around the arena to view his adversaries through his one way windows. Speaking through all of them at once, his voice shouted from seemingly every direction, "What is wrong with you? You just attacked me without warning? Do you even know how much that hurt? I think my nose is bleeding. And dad, you almost killed me! Let's see how you like it."

Spyro started to stagger, but regained his balance as Wither's focus on him took its toll. "Sorry son, but you're going to have to do better than that. No purple dragon is going to lose all of their magic so easily. I have more to give than you could take."

"We'll see about that," replied Wither as his dark crystal hovered over his shoulder from out of the boundless depths of the Void. It positioned itself in front of Wither and aimed right for a window behind Spyro. The obsidian colored gem began to spin with considerable force before shooting itself out of the Void through the cloud and stabbing Spyro in the side. Wither made sure the angle of the shot made the wound shallow, yet allowed nearly the full length of the crystal to bury itself a couple inches beneath his father's flesh.

When Spyro's roar of pain ripped through the entire garden, Wither knew that was the most he had ever hurt his father by a long shot. At first he felt a tinge of regret for striking his father so viciously from behind, but the ache in his sides and face dispelled such qualms and encouraged the faintest hint of satisfaction to lift the corners of his mouth. "Who's next then?"

Cynder attempted to pull the crystal out of Spyro's side, but the relentless pull on her magic and stamina repelled her with a force greater than her compulsion to help her husband. While that kept his parents busy, he turned his attention to Yarrow and fed invisible strands of nothing through his black clouds, coiling the ends around Yarrow's horns to hang inches from his ears. Quietly, Wither mumbled to himself so that Yarrow could hear him, "Now what am I going to do with you?"

Yarrow whirled around, only to find nothing there. With a mischievous chuckle Wither said, "Nope, over here."

Yarrow danced in a circle trying to find Wither, making him laugh at the ancient's confusion. When he had had enough, Yarrow spoke. "Wither, your methods are startlingly cheap. I'm surprised how ape-like your fighting style is. Run and hide like a coward when you're failing, then whack them over the head while they aren't looking."

"Oh, and I suppose the three most powerful dragons in Warfang jumping a youngling is the honorable way to go?" returned Wither, half serious, half playfully.

Yarrow paced a slow circle in the real world as Wither watched him from the darkness of the Void through one of his cloud windows. "You ought to have known the events that were to transpire today. You've been instructed on the tactics teachers will demonstrate during a lesson on fury."

"Of course," droned Wither. "Make them hurt, make them scared, make them mad."

"Then you are no doubt aware that our behavior is perfectly acceptable given the circumstances. However, yours is thoroughly abominable. You make me ashamed to be your teacher. Why don't you show a little class and come out here where it's a fair fight?"

"I . . . you . . . fair?" sputtered Wither, unable to believe what he was hearing. Closing his eyes he repeated to himself, "He's just trying to make you mad. He's just trying to make you mad. He's just trying to make you mad."

Hearing his student's little mantra, Yarrow turned his head to view what he believed to be the cloud Wither was watching him from out of the corner of his eye. "Certainly you can do better than this. I know you're fighting your parents and me, but come on now, I thought you'd at least be able to make it challenging enough to be slightly amusing. This is just pathetic. Hardly a fight at all."

Wither shook his head and screwed his eyes shut, now only thinking what he had been before. Yarrow continued to jeer at Wither as he shortened the circle he was pacing around the window with each round. "I've had a lot to be proud of you for before, Wither, but now I'm not so sure. If dirty tricks are all you're good for, maybe I'll be better off making another less disgraceful youngling my protégé."

Cynder finally worked up the resolve to pull the crystal out of Spyro's side. Wither couldn't even hear the resulting roar of pain. Nor did he feel it when his mother accidentally tossed the crystal behind her, right into one of his clouds, causing it to bump into his back and float there just above his tail. Yarrow put one paw in front of the other, walking his circle as he pressed on without pause or mercy. "If you would stoop so low as to dishonor your entire family on the battlefield like this, I have to marvel at how I never realized the dim quality of your character. I'll bet you weren't even upset when Malefor killed me, were you? Everyone probably only told me you reacted the way you did so it wouldn't hurt my feelings."

Wither's eyes shot open and the tears that had been welling up behind them poured down his cheeks. "That's not true! I love you, Yarrow. I tried so hard to kill Malefor for what he did to you. I just couldn't do it. Why . . . why are you saying all of that? Why are you being so mean? You're just trying to make me upset, aren't you? Aren't you?"

"Why bother?" continued Yarrow as he crept closer and closer to the portal that led into Wither's world. "As I said before, I bet you didn't even do what everyone claims. I would even go as far as to say that you can't do it. You're too weak, too small, and too insignificant to avenge the ones you say you love. How could you ever even hope to protect them? Trying to get you to use your fury would be a waste of time, because you don't have one, just like you don't have a true element. You don't have a spark in your heart like a _real_ dragon, so this would be an awfully big waste of time if I were just trying to make you mad, wouldn't it?"

Wither blinked his eyes. The tears stopped flowing. His crystal bumped into his tail spade. "That's not true," whispered Wither with a shake of his head.

"You think I'm wrong?" questioned Yarrow, mere feet from the cloud. "You can't even fly. You're behind everyone in everything. You're Wither, always four steps behind everyone else. Don't tell me you're not weak."

"No, I am a real dragon."

"Is that right? Then why don't you prove it? Hm, if only you could. Such a pity. You almost had me believing you had potential there for a while. What a disappointment."

Wither rose to his feet and snapped, "If I was strong enough to fight you, I'd kill the whole world first just to make you watch before ending you!"

Yarrow immediately stopped and glanced sideways at Spyro and Cynder. They looked back and forth between Yarrow, themselves, and the clouds. "_You're getting very close, Yarrow,_" thought Spyro through a mental link. "_Get ready, and be very careful._"

"_You too,_" thought Yarrow to the both of them. "Such big words from such a runt, but your element suits you. Nothing. That's all you could deliver, and that's all you'll ever be."

The crystal bumped Wither's tail again. This time, it melted into his tail spade. Wither opened his eyes. "I want to hurt them."

"**You can't do it alone."**

"You'll help me, won't you?" asked Wither pleadingly.

"**Child of the universe, I will always be here to help you, but you have to want my help first. Do you accept my aid?"**

"Yes," nodded Wither. "I don't want to kill them. I just want them to hurt as much as they hurt me."

"**Of course. Rest easy now. Everything shall be as you wish it. Just step over the edge."**

Wither charged forward with a scream that ripped its way out of the cloud and tossed Yarrow aside like a leaf in the wind. As he lunged out of the Void, he stepped over the edge visible only to him and began his transformation. His eyes glowed black, the air rippled in flowing streams all around his body, and his tail spade opened up into several slivers, which began to spin in violent patterns around the dark crystal that was hiding inside. All of Wither's clouds disappeared as he abandoned his sanctuary and touched down on the bare ground of Yarrow's garden.

Spyro and Cynder held each other by the tails as they looked their son over. Yarrow picked himself up and observed Wither's condition with a wary eye. "So that's what it looks like. I'm already fairly convinced it's dark magic, but just to be sure, let's test it. Are you ready?"

Spyro and Cynder covered themselves in wispy shadows, their eyes burning with the white hot malevolence of Convexity. All three of the masters charged Wither. He waited patiently for their arrival, then took a single step in their direction. The resulting force of his wake was so great that it completely cancelled out their momentum and knocked them all on their haunches. As they sat together for a moment, considering what they had gotten themselves into, Wither took a breath and let out a long hum of displeasure. "No, no, no, this won't do at all."

Every word that passed his lips surged forward and pounded into the dragons before him, the last one actually knocking them on their backs. Spyro got up and fired a beam of Convexity straight toward Wither. The youngling sat on his haunches and lazily swung his tail around his body. The beam poured itself into the crystal hovering at the end of his tail, disappearing completely. When Spyro needed a break, Cynder took his place. After what seemed like an impossibly long continuation of Convexity manipulation, Spyro and Cynder were too tired to keep the stream constant. They looked to Wither and saw that he merely sat in place, holding his tail forward.

When it was apparent that his parents were finished for the time being, Wither stepped closer, making sure not to knock them over with his wake. When he spoke, it was more controlled so as to not blast them away when he addressed them. "You know, for a while there, I knew you were just trying to make me upset so this would happen." Wither continued to saunter over slowly and nodded to his parents in acknowledgement. He then turned back to Yarrow and said, "But after all that stuff that you said to me, I just couldn't help but get a little bit upset. So what I'm thinking right now is . . . how sorry are you that you said it? You didn't have to be _that_ cruel to get me to this point. You didn't even ask me if I thought I could try to do it on my own before you started beating me up."

Yarrow cleared his throat and replied, "You know I didn't mean it. What does it matter?"

"That doesn't mean it didn't hurt," replied Wither with narrowed eyes. "You knew it was going to hurt. Otherwise, why would you say it?"

"But that was the point," replied Yarrow calmly. "You know what we set out to do here. The beginning is over. None of what I said carries any more importance. We should continue the exercise."

Wither considered Yarrow's words for a moment. After an agonizingly long pause, Wither growled deeply, "Fine. Just get it over with."

Spyro and Cynder allowed their shadows to dissipate and advanced with Yarrow. The ancient looked Wither over and said to his parents. "He appears a bit more aggressive than usual. I'm not liking that."

"You would be, too," retorted Wither as he watched Yarrow reach toward his tail.

No matter how far Yarrow stretched his paw forward, the end of Wither's tail seemed to be just out of his reach. This caused the life dragon's eyebrows to knit together in confusion. "What in the world is this?"

Spyro and Cynder watched Yarrow in fascination. Wither's tail was right in front of Yarrow, yet it seemed to defy space to remain out of his reach. From the side, it merely looked as though Yarrow wasn't reaching far enough forward, but from Yarrow's perspective, Wither's crystal appeared to race down a long tunnel that stretched away into oblivion. Yarrow looked up at Wither's parents and said, "The crystal appears to be the heart of his power. It's not what's generating his abilities, but they are flowing through it. It looks to me like it's pushing reality out of the way to remain in its own private stasis. There's no way to get to it."

"So what you're saying is. . ." asked Cynder curiously.

Yarrow placed his paw back down and said, "I've heard of something very similar to this only once before. This crystal and the area around it is acting like a four dimensional hole in space."

"A four dimensional hole?" asked Spyro. "I'm not sure if I can quite comprehend that. Where would the bottom of a four dimensional hole be?"

Yarrow shook his head. "In terms of three dimensional space, such a hole would be infinite. It's like a hole in the ground. The top of the hole is two dimensional, but it's in a three dimensional world, so the bottom can be defined in terms of three dimensional space. But a four dimensional hole's surface area is three dimensional. The bottom could only be defined by four dimensional space, something that confounds even the moles from what I hear. It's completely inconceivable based on our perception of the universe."

"How do you know so much about stuff like that?" asked Cynder in a clearly impressed tone.

Yarrow continued to look Wither over and absently replied, "Light dragons sometimes do something very similar when the energy from their supernovas collapses in on itself and forms what the moles have dubbed a Kugelblitz."

"A Kougie-whaty?" asked Cynder with a wrinkled nose.

Waving a paw dismissively, Yarrow added, "It's their word for a black hole formed by pure energy." Focusing once more on Wither, Yarrow commented on his current state. "You've been holding this form for an extended period of time now. Is it difficult for you to maintain?"

"Not really," replied Wither, growing bored of the session.

"Are you still angry?"

Wither allowed Yarrow to gently lift one of his wings as he continued his inspection. "What? Because of all that stuff you told me? Yeah, a little, but I'll get over it I guess. You know, Yarrow? You really know just what to say to make me feel absolutely worthless."

With a half-smile Yarrow replied, "Take it as a testament to my love for you. I know you so well that I'm one of the few who can make you feel so horrible. You'll always hurt the ones you love, Wither. In time you'll find the ones you hurt the most are the ones you love most of all."

Cynder smacked Yarrow on the tail and gave him a disbelieving look. "Don't teach him that. He's too young to be told such things, don't you think?"

Yarrow considered her words for a brief moment before continuing his inspection and replying, "Perhaps, but it's an important lesson to learn, and one we must all come to terms with sooner or later if we are to ever find peace with each other." Turning back to Wither, Yarrow asked, "You're sure you feel no unexplainable resentment or frustration of any kind?"

"No, I don't," replied Wither shortly as Yarrow inched his paw down the length of Wither's tail in an attempt to reach the end.

When that failed yet again, Yarrow put Wither's tail down and looked him in the face. "You sound agitated."

"You would be too if someone was picking and poking at you like some sort of freak."

"It's just part of the examination," replied Yarrow.

"Yeah, yeah," replied Wither, looking away.

"Can you tell us what your transformation felt like?"

Wither cocked his head as though he was looking up in thought, though it was impossible to tell where exactly he was looking as black light blotted out his eyes. "Eh, not really."

Yarrow blinked at Wither's answer and asked, "What do you mean, not really?"

Wither shook his head and held a paw out for emphasis. "I _mean_ . . . I don't remember what happened."

Swishing his tail with dissatisfaction, Yarrow sat down and said, "Walk us through it."

Wither sighed and started counting events on his digits. "Let's see. I was sitting in the Void, watching you though one of my portals. You started making me feel like a true nothing. I got really, really, _really_ upset. Then. . ." This time Wither paused in thought. "Then . . . I was rushing out of the Void, wanting very much to hurt you."

Yarrow turned to Spyro and Cynder. "Sound familiar at all?"

They both shook their heads, eyes filled with concern. "No," replied Cynder. "We always remember everything both during our dark states and through the transition. This is a side effect we have never experienced, nor is it outlined anywhere in the _Magna Convexia Dominus_."

Nodding his head, Yarrow quickly said, "Alright then that tears it for me. This is clearly dark magic, and I don't want him using it ever again."

"Now hold on, Yarrow," replied Spyro, holding up a paw. "We _just_ said that his memory loss during the transition period is not indicative of dark magic. I'm not saying it's not. Some of the signs _are_ there, but his condition appears to be only similar to ours when we use the dark fury. It's not the same. We should try to learn more about it before we condemn such a potent gift of his."

Cynder gave a single nod in agreement and continued, "Yes. Why so quick to jump to dark magic, Yarrow? We haven't even finished the examination."

Raising himself up in defense, Yarrow replied, "Your disregard for Wither's wellbeing is astonishing. He has remained in this state for several minutes now. If it is dark magic, he is being heavily corrupted as we speak."

"He's not even angry," replied Spyro is disbelief at Yarrow's outburst. "Look at him. If anything, he's just bored because he has to sit around and watch his elders argue about how he's going to handle his greatest gift while his friends get to enjoy themselves without him."

"We can continue the examination at another time if you wish, but for the time being, I believe that it is in Wither's best interest to resume his normal form. Assuming it _is_ dark magic, being in this state for long periods of time compound the effects of corruption."

"We're well aware of that," replied Cynder.

"Then are we in agreement?" asked Yarrow as he glanced down between the two dragons.

"Yes, fine. Let's stop for today," said Spyro in annoyance. He turned to his son and calmly said, "You can go back to normal now."

Wither looked at his paws for several seconds before replying, "I don't know how."

"Clear your mind. Concentrate," replied Yarrow urgently, but smoothly.

Wither closed his eyes and imagined turning back into his usual self.

"**Done so soon? Are you sure? You hardly even needed my aid. If anything, it was only to show off a bit of your power and scare them."**

"I guess that's all I really wanted," replied Wither.

"**So be it. I shall recede from you. Until next time, hallowed one."**

Wither blinked and looked back up at Yarrow and his parents. After several quiet seconds he asked, "What happened?"

"You don't remember changing back either?" asked Yarrow.

Wither rubbed his head and tried to grasp at the right words. After a moment, "It was like a dream. I remember being Hypoactive, but it's all hazy like the way you feel about a dream after you wake up. It seemed so clear at the time, but looking back on it now. . ."

Yarrow looked to Spyro and Cynder, but they merely shook their heads. "Yet another inconsistency between his ability and ours," replied Spyro. "There's a haze that comes with ours alright, the cloudy blur of rage, but that's hardly what he just described."

Gesturing to Wither, Yarrow said, "Come here. I want to look at your eyes."

Wither edged closer to Yarrow and looked up. Yarrow leaned down and gently placed a paw under his pupil's chin, raising his face to get a better look. The ancient gazed deeply into Wither's eyes for a long period of time, searching for something. After almost a full minute of this, Yarrow let him go and gave a sigh. "I'm still highly skeptical about his Hypoactive powers . . . but I can see no traces of corruption in his soul."

"See," said Spyro. "We want to be just as careful as you do, but you're getting too worked up over this."

"It could just be too early to tell," replied Yarrow guardedly. "He hasn't used the power but three times as of today."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see then, won't we?" replied Cynder.

"So what's the verdict?" asked Spyro. "Should we let him use it without supervision now? I'm inclined to say no. While we still don't know if it's dark magic, the fact that it makes him so unbelievably strong gives me a feeling like it can't come without some sort of cost."

"Now that makes sense," replied Yarrow, nodding in agreement. "I vote no, too. There's still too much potential for danger to his soul. That aside, I also can't help but feel that that much power in the paws of a youngling is far too hazardous to the wellbeing of others."

"I second that," replied Cynder with a half raised wing.

"Then it's unanimous," said Yarrow, turning to Wither. "Until we deem this particular part of your power safe for continued use, you are still prohibited from using it without our say so."

"That's so boring," groaned Wither.

"But necessary," countered Yarrow. "Don't you let us catch you using it. I'm warning you, Wither. I won't be as lenient on you as I usually am if I find out you disobey us on this matter."

"Fine," said Wither, giving in. "So, we're done now, right? Does that mean I can go hang out with my friends?"

"Yes, away with you," replied Yarrow with a hint of a smile and a wave of his paw. "Go be young and have fun. Ancestors know you deserve it."

"Yay! Thank you!" Wither bounded away toward the nearest exit as fast as he could.

His parents and Yarrow watched him run until he got impatient and shifted away. Once he was gone, Yarrow looked to Spyro and Cynder and let out a long sigh. "That was one of the most frightening moments of my life."

"His power is immense," agreed Spyro. "Far too great for one so young. I've always thought Convexity was the ultimate power, but he was more than a match for all three of us in that state. It's just . . . it's just not natural."

"You don't know that," said Cynder with a paw on his shoulder. "Just because it's something new and unfamiliar that we don't understand, doesn't mean it's unnatural. We have to treat him the same as we always have. He may be the first of his kind, but there's nothing wrong with him."

Yarrow nodded and replied, "Yes, in all that you do, remember that he is your young, underdeveloped son. He has a lot of growing and maturing to do. It's important that his formative years are not spent being treated differently. You've seen how well that's turned out."

Spyro and Cynder exchanged guilty glances before facing Yarrow again. "So what should we do now?" asked Spyro.

Popping his neck and twisting the stiffness out of his limbs, Yarrow gestured over his shoulder to the regrown section of his garden. "Both of you come with me. You've been shamelessly slacking in my art. It's time you afforded me a day to teach you a little more about life magic."

XXX

Wither shifted to Yarrow's front door and ran right past Vera. He skidded to a halt as she shouted from behind, "Yay! You're done! How'd it go?"

Wither turned around and gave her a big grin and replied cheerily, "Pretty good for a fury induction, I guess. It didn't take nearly as long as it does for most first timers."

Vera bolted up from her seat on the steps and bounced her way forward. Bumping into him on her way past, she said teasingly, "Oh, that skilled, are you? You're just a prodigy all around, aren't you, Wither?"

Waving a paw dismissively at her, he replied, "Psh, leave me alone. Yarrow just really knows how to ruffle my scales. The credit goes to him."

Vera tossed her head side to side, stretching her neck muscles and popping one of the joints. "I'm glad to hear it. I'll admit, I was getting sleepy lying there. I almost fell asleep on my neck the wrong way." Vera cocked her head to the side again and flapped her wings in a furious dance. "Yes, yes! We're coming," she hissed to herself.

"What was that?" asked Wither as he tried to overlook the eccentric behavior of his companion.

"Oh, Tera's getting impatient. So is everyone else since she told them we're coming."

Wither nodded in understanding and asked, "Do you know where they are?"

"They're heading on over to the library right now. Wylee wanted to see it, so the rest of the gang is taking him there."

Holding his arm out, Wither asked, "What say we meet them at the entrance?"

"Ooo, you want to shift me with you? I've never done that before. What's it like?"

With a laugh, Wither replied, "Only one way to find out."

"That is so true," said Vera as she took his arm. She started skipping forward with carefree glee, forcing Wither to do so as well to keep up with her.

Allowing more giggles to escape his throat, he opened the way forward, and before Vera knew it, they were in front of the library. She suddenly stopped, her eyes wide in shock. "Whoa, that was fast. I didn't even feel anything. Kind of a disappointment, really," she added as she puffed up her cheeks.

"I don't see them yet," said Wither as he looked down both ends of the street from the top of the library steps.

Vera pointed a claw to the right and said, "They're coming from that way. They should be turning the corner right . . . about . . . ah! There they are!" She pranced down the stairs and dashed down the street, her sister rushing forward as well. As the twins met each other between Wither and the rest of the group, they crashed into each other and danced around on the spot as they held each other with crushing force. "I missed you, Tera!"

"I know! I thought I'd never see you again," replied Vera's ecstatic sister.

Wither shifted between the twins and the rest of his friends and pointed at them over his shoulder with a questioning look.

Psy chuckled lightly and waved the issue aside. "Oh, ignore them. They hate being apart even for a second."

"It's kind of sad, really," added Renna with a shake of her head. "You'd think they could stand some alone time, but no. It took us forever to convince them to separate for a bit, but since they know where the other is, it was only practical to send one of them to get you and keep the other with us."

Wither nodded and asked with a big smile, "Is everyone feeling better today? You all look like you've made a full recovery."

Elleca did a dash to the side and ran up the wall of the library before gravity caught up with her, allowing her to do a backflip. When she landed on her feet, she beamed at Wither and replied, "Does that answer your question?"

All Wither could think to do was slowly raise both of his paws and clap. "That's great. I wasn't expecting you to feel totally better in just one day."

Roxy inched his way forward from behind Elleca and said, "Yeah, once that disease was gone, it was like it was never there. It really only took about an hour for the effects to wear off."

"Huh, that's weird," replied Wither with a surprised head jerk.

Wylee glanced at the library and looked it over thoroughly as he answered the unspoken question. "My guess is that the virus has alternate effects on the body since it is energy based, unlike all others, which have a physical form and wreak havoc on the actual body of the victim rather than chemically, which is what I suspect an energy based virus must do. The physical ramifications of contracting the virus were all but eliminated once the irritant was removed, much like washing away the oil from a poison yoodon plant with water. The second it's gone the burning stops."

Wither shrugged at his explanation and said, "I don't know. Sounds smart to me."

Wylee smiled and looked down at Wither from the middle of the crowd of dragons around him. "I try to find the reason behind everything. The world makes more sense the more you understand how its pieces fit together. I want to learn as much as I can about it, which is why," Wylee gestured to all of his friends. "I asked everyone to make our next stop your library. The tour has been fun so far, but I've been especially excited for this portion of the trip around the city."

"You have good taste," replied Wither almost dreamily as he reminisced about the many hours he had logged in the library.

"Nerd," coughed Psy.

Wither shook himself out of his reverie and glared dully at Psy. Then with a big smile, he said, "Aw, poor Psy. Sounds like you're getting sick again. Let me take care of that cough for you." Wither sucked a little of Psy's strength out and watched with smug satisfaction as he buckled a little at the knees.

"Hey! I was kidding."

Wither stuck his tongue out playfully and replied, "That's payback for beating me up so badly during our physical combat only training."

Nodding his head, Psy laughed and conceded, "Okay, I'll give you that one. That was one glorious, elder approved beat down. A better opportunity to whip your tail, I'll never receive."

"Okay, boys," interrupted Elleca. "Let's shut up for two seconds and go inside. Wylee's about to leave us behind."

Everyone looked up and noticed that Wylee had somehow snuck his way from the middle of the group to the base of the stairs. "What the—how'd he—?" Roxy gave up on figuring out how Wylee had escaped from literally right in front of everyone without their noticing and followed them up the steps to the massive marble doors. They opened of their own accord once Wylee was within a distance that made his intent to enter unmistakable.

His face was priceless. Everyone grinned at one another when Wylee beheld the unparalleled glory of the interior. The awestruck cheetah absently rubbed the back of his head as he slowly advanced between two of the many towering bookshelves. Somehow, the inside appeared larger than the outside to Wylee. He glanced up at the ceiling to appreciate the intricate crystal ornaments that hung from the lofty rafters. Golden sunlight beamed down through the skylights built into the rows between the mountainous shelves. The silence that pervaded the halls gave it the sense of a hallowed site.

As Wylee glanced from bookshelf to bookshelf on either side he said, "Incredible. These shelves have to be a hundred feet tall. And I won't even begin to estimate how long this hallway is. . . There have to be over a hundred thousand books down this aisle alone. How do you reach the ones higher up?"

Wither looked up and said, "If you'll look over there, you can see one of many ladders that slide across the entire shelves. Usually, if a dragon wants a book too high to reach, some of the moles who work here will get it. It's too difficult for anyone to fly up and grab one; they might cause damage."

"I see, yes. That would be cause for concern," replied Wylee dreamily, not really paying attention as he made his way to the open study area at the center of the library. He started to look up, but the rest of the group quietly hissed at him as he did so.

Elleca reached up and pulled Wylee's head down. "Whoa, hold up there. Just a fair warning, the eyes are cursed."

Wylee gave everyone a puzzled look and asked, "Eyes? Cursed? I don't believe in curses. What are you talking about?" Wylee looked back up and realized what everyone was referring to. At the heart of the library, where the roof formed a massive dome, was a brilliant amalgamation of pictures depicting important events in dragon history.

Wylee's jaw dropped when he laid eyes upon it. There were several segments arranged in a circle around a central image in the midst of it all. Pointing to them and making his way around the edge of the circle, Wylee quietly exclaimed, "That's Spyro and Cynder defeating Malefor, isn't it?"

"Yup," replied Wither simply.

Studying the images more intensely, Wylee asked, "What are all of these other events?"

Psy pointed and said, "That one with the moles standing around the dragons shows the meeting the leaders of our two races attended to form the pact that eventually resulted in the construction of Warfang over two thousand years ago."

Wither whirled around and said, "I didn't know you were so knowledgeable about the pact between the dragons and the moles."

Psy laughed and smiled at the ground before looking back up and saying, "The uh . . . earth dragon shown there was the Earth Master of the time, Geodd, and the fire dragoness to his left was actually his wife and the Fire Master, Clastine. They were responsible for helping the moles build the tunnels that lead to and from Warfang and Mjölnir. The Ice Master there next to them also happens to be Latskie, the one who started the ice dragon uprising."

Tera and Vera looked at Psy and remarked, "Gee, Psy. . ."

"I didn't know,"

"You were so,"

"Smart," they both finished.

Kicking at the ground, Psy replied, "Yeah, I guess I know a little more about our history than most."

"And you called me a nerd," huffed Wither.

Wylee looked to Psy and asked, "What do you mean by ice dragon uprising?"

"Oh, I know this one," replied Renna. She pointed at another segment of the painting and said, "That part of the mural records the moment the uprising was brought to an end with the signing of a treaty. Latskie felt that ice dragons were of superior make and started a violent civil war that killed several thousand. While it wasn't nearly as devastating as the wars with the Dark Master on a grand scale, it claimed almost as many dragon lives as the wars started by Malefor. After Latskie was thrown out of the Council of Elders for his actions, he attacked Warfang with his ice dragon army. They were . . . brainwashed by his almost unnatural charisma. Some say his ability to sway the minds of his audience was probably magical, though that is only speculation. He was eventually killed in the final battle by the Lightning Master, Valence, or the famous Lance Lightning, as he's more commonly known. The strange thing is, Latskie was an extremely powerful ice dragon. It's said he could freeze the blood in anyone's body from over three hundred yards. During the confrontation, it looked as though Lastkie was going to defeat Valence, but in a stroke of sheer luck, Latskie experienced a heart attack or some other kind of freak health issue, giving Valence the chance he needed to deliver the final blow. After Latskie's death, the ice dragon population just sort of lost their desire to fight. Most could barely remember why they had been battling their dragon brethren in the first place, strengthening the magical influence theory."

Wither raised his eyebrows and muttered, "I thought I was the only youngling who knew this stuff."

Renna looked over at Wither and gave a loud sigh, saying, "Well, my mom is an ice dragon, you know? So I sort of had that lesson crammed into my skull until I could never forget it."

Wylee pointed up at the last picture in the circle, asking, "What about the one with the really old looking dragon?"

Several moments of silence passed as everyone looked at each other in askance, before Sora actually cleared her throat and replied in a soft murmur, "That's Ichor, the Master of Metal Manipulation. There is an exceedingly rare trait that earth dragons can inherit. Only about one in every ten thousand of them are capable of controlling an electromagnetic field that gives them dominion over metal as well as the earth. The moles have determined this gift to be some kind of mutation in this stuff they call DNA. They say it's what maps out who we are, what we look like, pretty much everything about living things. The mutation makes earth dragons kind of like half earth, half lightning dragons.

"Anyway, Ichor was the greatest magna dragon to ever live as well as the greatest mind the dragon race has ever produced. He used his powers over metal and his knowledge of the world to build what is probably one of the most useful devices in existence, the crysys. It's a machine that can harness the power of crystals to universally power anything. Before the creation of that device, only dragons could utilize the power of the crystals for personal use. He's also responsible for a number of other inventions including the magic enhancing draconic armor our elders wear into serious battles."

"That is truly amazing," replied Wylee, stunned into a state of perpetual awe. He then looked back up at the ceiling and started to point in askance at the picture in the middle, but once he looked into the captivating eyes that the picture contained, he got distracted and gazed back into them with a hazy expression.

The dragons looked back and forth between one another and Wylee before snickering over the fact that he was unwittingly trapped in the trance. In a voice that was barely audible, Wylee muttered, "Blue irises, with violet whites. How strange. That's not even possible."

Wither poked Wylee in the leg with a sharp claw, making the cheetah jump in pain and scowl down at him. "Sorry, there's no telling how long you would have stared into the eyes if left alone. Someone did it for three days once."

"So it _is_ cursed?" asked Wylee. "Or more likely enchanted with dragon magic?"

Shaking his head, Wither replied, "Not that anyone can tell. It's been scoured by the elders many times in the past, but it never yields anything definite. The most that's ever been reported about the eyes is that they are 'peculiar.' They have a certain something about them that can't seem to be defined."

Placing a hand under his chin, Wylee said more to himself than anyone else, "Hmm, it's a stretch, but maybe some sort of optical response based on the way the painting is arranged? Could be a rare, unduplicable pattern in the strokes or the positioning and coloring of the eyes?"

"Don't stress about it," replied Wither with a wave of his paw. "No one can figure it out. You never will."

Wylee slammed a fist into his open palm and growled, "It's so frustrating when you don't understand something, don't you think? Everything can be explained. All I want is to know you can come at any problem with logic and your past experiences alone to solve it."

Wither looked around and noticed that his friends were dispersing into the depths of the library. Turning back to Wylee, Wither said, "We have all day and it looks like we're going to be here for a while, so go ahead and do whatever. Let me know if you do happen to figure out anything about the eyes of the prophet."

"The eyes of the prophet?" asked Wylee with interest.

Wither turned back around and replied, "Yes, that's what everyone calls them. No one knows who the eyes actually belong to if anyone, but the painting was drawn based on the vision of a prophet way back when Warfang was first built."

"Do you know who this prophet was?" asked Wylee with intense curiosity.

Wither screwed his eyes shut and scratched the back of his head in thought. "Uh yeah, I do. Let's see, he was one of the elders of the time. I know it wasn't any of the common element masters. If I remember right, it was the Shadow Master. Now what was his name? Uh . . . Shadow . . . Master . . . Glumshine!"

Wylee looked around and asked, "Glumshine? Do you think there are any books here on him?"

"In the library?" asked Wither incredulously. "Of course. I don't know where they would be, but you could ask the librarians. They'll help you with anything you need."

Nodding excitedly, Wylee replied, "Thank you for the information, Wither. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some research to do."

Wither watched him walk away and raised his voice, calling back, "Good luck."

When Wylee kept walking, too absorbed in his task to notice Wither anymore, Wither turned back around to see who all had remained. The only one left was Renna. She smiled and stepped closer, asking, "Finished?"

"I guess so. Wylee just wanted some help. He seems determined to find out more about the eyes of the prophet."

With a shake of her head, she said, "Well, good luck to him. So, how was the fury induction?"

Wither wobbled his paw and replied, "Eh, it was okay, I guess. Yarrow said some really mean things to me and he and my parents kind of beat me up, but I feel okay now. I'm just a little sore, and I guess I'm over what Yarrow said to me to rile my emotions."

Renna gave Wither a sympathetic expression and said, "Yeah, that's part of it from what I hear. You just have to remember that whatever they said or did was part of the lesson. So what was the verdict? Are you all clear to use that awesome Hypoactive power?"

"No," sighed Wither.

"No?" asked Renna in disappointment. "Why not? Is it dark magic like Yarrow says?"

Wither shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I don't know. _They_ don't know. Yarrow kind of had a mini freak out and made us stop the examination. He said that if it is dark magic, it's too dangerous for me to be like that for extended periods of time. From what they can tell, it's _like_ dark magic, but a little different. They still haven't determined if it's healthy for me to be using it, so they said they'd continue the examination later. Until they figure out anything definite, I'm not allowed to use that ability without supervision."

"What a bummer, but I guess they're right. It's better to be safe than sorry."

Wither nodded in agreement and said, "That's true. So, what do you want to do now?"

"I'unno," replied Renna. "Want to take a look around?"

"Sure," replied Wither. "Do you have a preference or. . .?"

"Not really, let's just go this way," replied Renna.

They both chose to delve into a part of the library that housed an intricate network of crisscrossing bookshelves. Seen from above, they most likely resembled a maze, thought Wither as they walked further into the dense forest of books. "Ah, I love the smell of the library," sighed Renna with pleasure as she took in a particularly strong breath.

"Really? Me too," replied Wither with a smile.

"You'd think all of these old books in one place would make it smell like mold and mildew, but it has to be as fresh as it was the day the library was built."

Wither held a paw out to one of the shelves and said, "There's a spell placed on all of the books here by Life Master Holly, the Life Master who came before Yarrow. It prevents any unwanted life from thriving here."

"Really? That's pretty smart. Wait. Don't dragons' spells dissipate when we die?"

"Normally," replied Wither. "But life dragons can leave their power behind in an anchor when they leave this world, thus preserving their active enchantments. Holly's anchor is the sickly looking tree that grows on the library's roof. The magic will keep the tree alive and the books safe for many thousands of years."

Renna looked at Wither and replied, "You know, I heard once that when a dragon dies, they don't truly leave this world. Their spirit lives on, binding itself with nature, offering hope for the future."

Wither nodded again and said, "That's right. While it is true that all dragons are capable of something similar, the key difference is that life dragons are capable of choosing how their power will be used before they die. A dragon's spark is their power. It's our soul. When a life dragon pours their spark into an anchor before they die, once again, it is like they are actually cheating death. It's not all that much of a stretch to say that the tree on the roof is actually Holly."

"Wow, that's so inspiring," said Renna dreamily. "To think that someone can live forever through nature like that."

"I don't believe in immortality," said Wither, "but yes. In a way, we all live forever through nature, I suppose."

With a giggle, Renna replied, "I bet Yarrow would be happy to hear you say that."

"Heh, yeah. I'm sure he would. Hey, what's that noise?"

Renna stopped and listened. After a couple seconds she heard a faint murmuring. Frowning questioningly at Wither, she silently waved him over and pointed forward and to the left. The two dragons carefully made their way down the aisle and around the corner. They passed several more rows of bookshelves, they sound getting louder as they pressed forward. When the noise was considerably more audible than before, Renna waved Wither down another aisle. They ventured halfway down the length of the bookshelf and stopped. Wither brought his mouth less than an inch from Renna's ear and whispered, "It's on the other side of the shelf."

She looked at him and nodded before slowly inching a book out of the shelf. She looked through the hole and pulled back immediately with a paw over her mouth, a mixed look of surprise and guilt on her face. Clearly she had seen something she shouldn't have. Wither gave her a questioning look and she gestured at the hole. Leaning down, Wither peeked through the hole. There, in the adjacent aisle, were Sora and Psy. Psy was lying down on the ground and allowing Sora to give him a massage. Surprisingly, the vast majority of the noise was coming from Sora.

"She's just looking out for you, Psy. Give her break. I mean, she _is_ your mom. Why would you want to do that anyway? What do you think would come of it? I'll tell you what. Trouble. Are you looking for trouble? Because it kind of sounds like it to me."

"It's just so frustrating," replied Psy from where he lay on the floor. A relaxed growl escaped his throat before he continued. "All I was trying to do was see if I could come up with a new way to use my magic. Something no other shadow dragon has done before."

"You dummy," sighed Sora with an exasperated eye roll. "That just _sounds_ dangerous. Don't you think shadow dragons have discovered all of their powers by now? Oh, who am I kidding? You don't think, do you?"

"Hey," groaned Psy happily as Sora rubbed a particularly tense area. "That's mean."

"Prove me wrong for once and use that head of yours. You let your anger and frustration get the better of you all the time. Honestly, you're just like a little hatchling. What would you do without me?"

Psy got up and nuzzled Sora's nose with a toothy smile. Sora beamed back at him as he replied, "I'd crash and burn."

Expelling a puff of air with a quick laugh, she replied, "Yes, you would. Feeling better?"

"Yeah, thanks. I really would be a mess without you. Those paws of yours are magic."

Sora poked him forcefully in the chest and said, "Don't get yourself so worked up and your muscles won't knot up like that. Still feeling a little angry?"

Psy bit his lower lip and looked down.

"Do you want me to sing the song?"

Psy placed his head on her chest and closed his eyes, whispering, "Please. You sing it so beautifully."

Sora rested her chin on the top of Psy's head and started to hum. This was Wither's cue to back up. Renna did so as well from another hole she had made in the shelf for her. They each put the books back and half tiptoed, half ran away. When they were out of earshot, Renna let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in. Wither pulled a paw all the way down one side of his face and said, "I don't think we were supposed to see that."

Renna gave Wither a devious grin and smacked him lightly with her tail. "Psh, there's no harm in a little spying every now and then, so long as we keep it to ourselves. I mean it. This is our secret."

"I won't tell anyone," swore Wither with a paw to his heart. "I don't want them to know I was watching them either. Sora really talks a lot when it's just her and Psy, huh?"

Renna nodded and replied, "I guess. I knew they were a little closer than the rest of the group as a whole, but I didn't know they were quite _that_ close. It's kind of rare to get to see it, but Sora is the only one who can calm Psy down when he gets angry. You wouldn't know it, but he has a violent temper that he always keeps barely in check just below the surface."

Wither's head pitched back in surprise. "Psy? Mr. Monotone, zero hint of personality at first glance? He almost never shows any emotion, and when he does, it's happiness."

Renna shook her head and said, "You don't really know Psy as well as you think you do. Two of the dragons from our generation are berserkers. Xath was one and Psy is the other. Do you remember that conversation between Elleca and Sora back when we were all forced to wait in the Council Chamber?"

Wither slapped his head and replied, "Oh, yeah. I forgot all about that. Psy does get really angry doesn't he?"

Renna shook her head and said, "You weren't in your right mind to notice it, but when Malefor killed Yarrow's first body, Psy had an incident. Luckily, Sora was there to calm him down, as usual, but he was going into a fury."

Wither sat there and thought about it for a moment. After several seconds, he said, "You wouldn't know it from looking at him. Or even knowing him, I guess, but then again, I kind of feel like I don't really know him now."

"Psy's a good guy," replied Renna. "He just has anger management issues. I think I remember him mentioning once that he comes from a long line of berserkers, so the trait is strong in him. In a way, it's really not his fault."

"No. I don't suppose it is," said Wither as he hung his head with a somber expression.

Renna looked Wither over and smiled inwardly at his compassion. She bumped him lightly between the eyes with her nose, catching his attention and making him blink with mild surprise. The corners of her eyes crinkled and she turned around to walk to another section of the library. "Come on. Let's go to a composing room."

"A composing room?" asked Wither curiously. "Why? Do you plan on writing something?"

"Yeah, it _is_ my job to finish the Book of Light. Why not get started?"

"But Renna, you're only twelve. Shouldn't you wait until you're about at least three or four hundred years old before you start writing in that?"

Renna cocked her head in thought and replied, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I just thought a composing room would be a more private place to talk than out in the open, hiding behind some bookshelves in the back of the library."

Wither shifted around nervously. Looking away, he asked, "Oh, did you have something important to tell me?"

Edging a little closer, Renna replied, "Nothing in particular. I just thought it would be nice to have a chance to get away."

Wither turned around and noticed Renna had almost wandered close enough to bump into him with every other step. "If you want to get away, I know a great place."

Renna turned around, nearly touching noses with Wither and backed up quickly with a barely audible 'eep.' "Ha ha . . . eh. It's uh . . . not your roof again, is it?"

Looping his tail around Renna's, Wither said, "Close, but not quite."

The rows of books suddenly melted away and they were standing outside. Renna gasped in surprise at the unexpected shift, but immediately fell quiet. There, in front of the two dragons, was the tree that grew from the roof of the library. Wither let go of Renna's tail and walked forward. Renna watched him go, quietly waiting to see what he'd do. He made his way up to the tree and sat down, placing a paw against the trunk. "Hello, Holly. Long time no see. I hope you haven't been too lonely up here."

The wind blew the wispy branches of the tree, making it appear as though they were wrapping themselves around Wither in a loose embrace.

"I've missed you, too," replied Wither with a laugh. "I know. I really should visit more often. You probably already know, but there's a war going on again, and the Chronicler himself has paw picked me to be the champion of it all. I don't know how a youngling like me is supposed to be able to end a whole war, but I guess I have to do my best. I train almost every day from sun up to sun down with my friends. The Chronicler said they would have to help me if I ever wanted to succeed. Truth be told, it kind of scares me sometimes, but I have a special power that no other dragon has ever used before. Well, except Malefor, that is. I can control . . . well . . . Yarrow probably already told you, huh?"

Again, the wind blew against the tree, rocking it back and forth.

"Yeah, I thought so. Yarrow tells you everything. Anyway, this is my good friend, Renna. She's my only classmate. Or at least she was until we started training for war."

Wither ushered Renna forward and she stepped tentatively up to the tree. She looked to Wither who wordlessly waved a paw toward the tree. She then stared up at the tree. It had to be no taller than twice her height. Its trunk was scrawny and bent this way and that. Even the branches were nearly bare of any vegetation. Indeed, it looked like a sickly, dying tree. But it had a serenity to it as well. The tree was ancient and alive in a way that most others weren't. When she worked up the courage to address it, Renna quietly said, "Hello."

A cracking was suddenly heard. Renna started to back up, but Wither held her in place and breathed, "Wait."

One of the roots of the tree pulled itself up from under the tiles and slowly stretched its way forward. It lifted up into the air and ever so gently touched Renna in the middle of her forehead. For a long moment, the root just rested there. Then it pulled back and carefully nestled itself under several more tiles again. After that, the tree was still.

Renna exhaled and looked at Wither. Answering the unspoken question, he said, "You're very lucky. Holly doesn't move for hardly anything. It takes too much strength for her spirit to animate the tree. She must really like you."

"So, that was her way of saying hello?" asked Renna uncertainly.

"Yeah—well . . . no. Not exactly. That was more of a blessing than a simple hello."

Renna's body lit up even brighter than usual, refracting the light from the sun and making white spots dance upon the ground around her. "Really? A blessing from an ancestor? I'm . . . I'm honored."

Wither gave her a smile at looked back at the tree. "I can't really tell what Holly is trying to say most of the time, but if you'd like, I can ask Yarrow later. He can speak to her."

"Thank you, Wither. I'd like to know what Holly was trying to say to me."

Wither thought for a moment and asked, "Do you want to go ask Yarrow now?"

"Sure. As long as he's not busy," replied Renna.

"Alright then. Right this way, m'lady." Wither opened a shifting point and together they passed through to Yarrow's garden.


	25. Chapter 24 Building Bridges

Chapter 24- Building Bridges

Malefor awoke from his slumber and sat up. He stared forward, marveling at his new invention. "This ought to aid us in our cause, but we'll need more to make it a truly useful device. Time for some more construction. Sometimes you have to make in order to break."

Malefor summoned up a tremendous amount of force from the Void. Once his pull on the Amophis was complete, he opened a portal and marched through. He found himself surrounded by pools of lava, bubbling quietly and providing warmth for hundreds of apes who all snapped to attention once Malefor unexpectedly entered the area. One of the larger ones bounded to his feet and stood rigidly, saluting the Dark Master. "Master Malefor! Welcome to Munitions Forge, my lord."

Malefor glanced around the area, paying the ape no mind. "Where is War?"

Another ape grabbed a discarded shovel left behind by the Manweersmalls and plunged it into the middle of one of the lava pits. He managed to get one or two good pokes in before the submerged end melted, leaving him with half a tool. Seconds later, War pulled himself out of the pool and glared at the ape. "What? I was sleeping. This had better be impor—oh! Master Malefor! What are you doing here?"

Malefor gestured around the spacious mining site and said, "Your organization skills leave much to be desired. Your troops are just lying about, sleeping and being otherwise quite useless."

Lowering his eyes, War replied, "Oh, I . . . thought I did well when we settled in. The entire island is being patrolled as we speak. More and more of the natives are being found in hiding every hour, and we've only been here for two days."

Malefor raised an eyebrow and asked, "The entire island, you say? There are enough of them to cover such a wide area?"

"And then some," nodded War reassuringly. "According to my second in command, there's not a thirty square foot area in Munitions Forge that doesn't have at least one ape occupying it."

Malefor pondered the idea for a moment before remarking, "That's more apes than I would have thought there'd be. Then again, they multiply much faster than dragons, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

"Anyway, I need you to clear the area. Many of these soldiers are in my way."

War wasted no time commanding the apes to move, though many had gotten up themselves when they heard that Malefor felt they were in his way. Once an excessively wide circle had edged away from Malefor just to be safe, the Dark Master placed a giant paw on War's back and said, "Now, I'll need you to stand back as well. What I'm about to do requires the use of great power. I don't want you to get caught up in any potential danger while I work."

War's eyes lit up with excitement as Malefor gave his warning. "Oh! Sounds like an important project. What have you been planning if you don't mind my asking?"

"A network," replied Malefor as a corner of his mouth curled upward.

War looked up and pressed further. "What kind of network? Like a spider web or . . . something? I don't know, that was stupid." War trailed off as he waited for Malefor's response.

With a low, rumbling chuckle, Malefor glanced down and said, "In a way, though this web will serve a multitude of purposes. Now, I need crystals."

Many apes dashed to the edge of the mining field and disappeared into the tunnels that riddled Munitions Forge. War watched them go in approval and made his rounds through the mining camp, ordering apes that were standing around to go gather crystals for Malefor. When the entire crowd had finished clearing out of War's headquarters, he turned and walked back to Malefor, a look of pride gleaming in his eyes. "It's exciting having so many who will do whatever I tell them to."

"Indeed," nodded Malefor. "So, have you attempted to take any of the surrounding islets yet?"

War rubbed his foreleg and replied, "I didn't know you wanted me to. I can certainly do that if you want, but there aren't very many of them and they're all kind of far away from the main base. If any forces stationed there were attacked, they'd pretty much be on their own. It could take an entire day of flight to get to the nearest two, and they are in opposite directions. If they were attacked at the same time, one would have to suffer a sure defeat."

Malefor shook his head and said, "The islet to the northwest is the nearest to the mainland of the two. There is another further north from there a good two day's flight from here. If the first islet is attacked, you can use it as an advance notice that forces are heading your way, giving you two days to prepare for battle while also giving you the advantage of two battles to weaken the arriving forces before they even get here. You shouldn't worry about a simultaneous attack on two islets, especially the ones further south from here. Any opposition would have to go out of their way to circumnavigate Munitions Forge. Not only would it take them longer than a day to do so, giving you enough time to prepare for such a move, those forces would be exhausted by the time they reached the battalion awaiting them."

"That's a really smart idea, Master Malefor," replied War in awe at his master's strategy. "But should I even occupy the islets south of here? That doesn't seem like a useful move. It just spreads my forces more thinly."

Malefor dipped his head in acknowledgement and said with a smile, "Very good reasoning, War. Normally, you'd be right, but I have specific reasons for the fortification of the two islets to the south."

Cocking his head in curiosity, War asked, "Why's that?"

Malefor pondered his answer for a moment before saying, "There is a much larger island than Munitions Forge three day's flight from here. I'd rather it be protected as thoroughly as possible."

"Shall I occupy it as well?" asked War with a smile.

"No," answered Malefor quickly. "No, don't venture any closer to that island than Munitions Forge. I don't even want you accompanying the parties you send to guard the two islets that form the resting points to get there."

Taken aback by Malefor's demands, War asked, "What? But why? If the island south of here is larger, then surely it would make a better base then Munitions Forge."

Malefor stamped a foot into the earth and repeated, "No. Munitions Forge is a staple location to control. This place has the tools and the raw materials your army needs to create weapons and siege engines. Besides, I need you to remain stationed here until I say otherwise."

"I just don't see why you don't want me going near the southern island," replied War.

Malefor lowered himself to War's level and gently raised his chin with a digit to softly reply, "It is a dangerous place, War. Too dangerous for you. I need you alive. The prophecy cannot be fulfilled without you. Do you understand?"

War shook his head with a frown and said, "No, I don't understand how it could possibly be too dangerous for me, but I'll stay here as you say."

Malefor rose up again and stared into the lava pit before them. "See that you do. And be mindful of the fact that your armor makes you powerful, not invincible. Should certain forces set themselves upon you, you would be helpless to defend yourself. Here, you are safe."

For several moments, War pondered what else besides a Ranvacoya would be able to stop him in his new armor, but his thoughts were interrupted by several returning apes. Some carried armfuls of crystals, others hauled carts filled with the stuff. Everything was brought before Malefor and dumped at his feet. When Malefor demanded more, the gathering parties returned to the tunnels to excavate more of the gems.

Malefor placed a paw on the pile and allowed darkness to fill the various crystals. War watched in fascination as Malefor then took up the task of using his magic to meld them together, forming one colossal black crystal. One end was sharpened with care before being embedded in the ground. As more and more crystals were brought before Malefor, he continued to add them to the massive column. In just a few short minutes, the base of the structure was already complete, spanning three feet in diameter and stretching up to nearly eye level with the Dark Master.

Eyeing the formation from a respectable distance, War said, "Hey, it's leaning. You may want to straighten it out."

Malefor added more crystals to the top and replied without looking up from his work, "It's supposed to do that. Worry less about what I'm doing and make sure the apes can keep up with me. I don't want to run out of crystals and have to wait."

For the next several hours, War supervised the apes as they brought Malefor the crystals he desired. The leaning tower finally stretched almost an impressive two hundred feet into the air and curved fifty feet to the side. Malefor stopped at this point to take a break, standing back to admire his work. "Ah, halfway there. It's coming along faster than the one I built in the Pit at Mount Genesis yesterday. Having the apes gather for me is really speeding up the process."

"What is it?" asked War with one raised eyebrow. "It kind of looks like half an arch."

"That's because it is," replied Malefor.

"Oh! That makes sense. But why are you building a huge arch out of black crystal in the middle of my base?"

"For the same reason I built one in the middle of mine," replied Malefor with a pleased flick of his tail. "Remember when I said I wanted to build a network?"

"Yeah," was War's simple reply as he awaited an explanation.

"I'm sure by now that you've realized it takes a monumental amount of Amophis to force a portal open, and a small, temporary portal at that. Once I've built more of these thresholds, a simple command by myself or one of my dear generals is all it will take to open much larger portals capable of transporting entire armies days, even weeks of travel in an instant. This threshold will be your army's main means of transportation between Munitions Forge and the battle-grounds-to-be outside Warfang in the days to come."

"That's incredible! Where did you get such an idea?"

Malefor watched as the apes collected more crystals for him and said, "I have my sources. So tell me, War, how do you like it here at Munitions Forge?"

War waved his head side to side and said, "Eh, it's okay I guess. I like being in charge, but I miss my friends."

Malefor pat War on the back and replied, "You can visit your friends if you want, just don't stay away from your post for too long."

"Wait. I can? You didn't mention that," said War with excitement.

Inspecting his claws and sharpening them on a stone protruding from the ground, Malefor replied, "I wanted you and your friends to get settled in and make sure everything is running smoothly before I allowed you to move around. So, do you feel like Munitions Forge is home yet?"

War knit his eyebrows together and fiddled with his tail. "To be honest, no. At first I was excited to be here, but after the first day, it's just felt more like a prison than anything." War rested his head on the ground and closed his eyes, holding his ears with both paws.

Noticing this, Malefor leaned down and asked, "Everything alright?"

Straightening up, War shook his head and said, "It's nothing."

"Tell me what's wrong."

War looked up into Malefor's eyes and said, "I don't know. Sometimes, I feel like the whole world is humming. I noticed it when I first got here, but it sort of died down. I just got the feeling that the buzzing was in my head again. Do you know what it might be?"

Malefor stood once more and turned to regard his project again. With his back to War, he allowed a smile to grace his features. "I wouldn't worry about it. It's probably just the hum of the machinery here. You're not used to such an industrial environment. Tell you what, whenever you feel like that humming is getting more powerful, try to find out where it's coming from."

"It feels like it's coming from my armor when it flares up," replied War.

"Are you sure that's the only place it seems to be originating from?" asked Malefor.

Shifting around nervously, War replied, "Well . . . no. I guess not. It does kind of feel like it's coming from somewhere else, too. How did you know?"

Malefor turned around once more and gave War an assuring smile, "Like I said, it's probably some of the machinery here. If you find the source of the noise, go ahead and destroy it, whatever it may be. You have my permission."

"Okay, I will," replied War. After a few moments of silence, War looked to Malefor again and asked, "Master Malefor, did you ever have any younglings?"

Malefor slowly turned around to give War an inquisitive look. "What makes you ask something like that?"

"Oh, nothing," replied War, swishing his tail and clicking his claws on the ground. "I was just wondering if you ever had a family, or if you had ever wanted one."

Malefor lowered his head and stared intently into the dirt between his paws. "I had a family once, like everyone does when they're born. Just me, my mother . . . and my father." Malefor's last words hung in the air, the tension was so thick, War felt like he was being suffocated by it, but then Malefor continued. "But time passes, and when that happens things change. I never had anything resembling a family after that, nor do I have any wish to enter into another relationship like that. My parents did nothing but get in the way and reject me. I'm far better without them."

"I'm sorry to hear that," replied War. "If it makes you feel any better, I know what that's like. My mom died before I ever really got a chance to know her, and my dad is the Fire Master. He always left me alone day and night, and when we both happened to be home at the same time, he would. . ."

Malefor glanced down carefully looking War over. The youngling had his head down and he was shaking. When he raised his head, it was clear that he was putting his all into keeping his tears firmly inside. "We never got along."

"He hit you?" asked Malefor.

War screwed his eyes shut tight at the sound of the words. Pulling himself up, he let out a pained cry of anger and frustration as his pent up emotions vented themselves while they had the opportunity. His armor flared with a sudden spike in heat, and the ground beneath him instantly burned white, fusing the dirt and the stone together. Several apes traveling to and from the tunnels stopped to stare as Malefor placed a paw on War's back. The Dark Master pulled away, as the heat was too great even for him to endure. When War's tantrum was over, he stood panting on the spot, angrily trying to call back the tears that had managed to escape and stream down his face. They landed on the ground and were instantly vaporized by the hellish temperatures that met them.

After War had some time to cool down, Malefor did something the youngling neither expected nor questioned. The Dark Master scooped him up with a paw and held him to his chest. War allowed Malefor to hold him, to rub his back and curl his tail around the both of them. For several long minutes War just shuddered as Malefor rocked him gently. Malefor ignored the wet spot on his chest as War burrowed his head deep into the purple dragon's scales. After a time, Malefor said, "You are a good youngling, Arragor. Don't ever let anyone fool you. You have the makings of greatness in you. No one else is more suited to fulfill the destiny you have been born into. Your fate is a birthright. When this war is over, you will be one of the greatest for it, one of the most changed by it. I chose you to be my general because I knew no one else would be able to fill the position."

Raising his head and sniffing, War asked, "Why? I'm only twelve years old. Even I have to question why you'd choose me and my friends as generals for a war."

"The youth are the future. I'd choose no one but you and your friends for the task. You just have to trust me."

Slowly, War nodded his head. He then realized that Malefor was holding him. Taking a chance, War laid his head back down against Malefor's chest. However, Malefor released him and set him back down where he had been standing before. War felt crunching beneath his paws and looked down to see that he was standing on a thin plate of glass. Widening his eyes, he asked, "Did I do this?"

"Indeed you did. Fire dragons get rather hot when they're angry. And that armor makes you far more powerful than just any fire dragon. It's no surprise you have the ability to burn so completely. To think, your anger burns so fiercely that the earth itself can be reduced to glass by it. Not even my infamous Belt of Fire was able to do such damage to the Burned Lands. Granted, nothing has grown there in the twenty three years since the Belt of Fire was instated, but glass. Nothing would even grow in such a place again. Such beautiful sterilization of the earth. This, this is what we strive for right here. Take a good look, War. This is the future. We'll burn everything. Then, when the world is clean, we'll till the land again, make everything new. Sound good?"

War nodded and inched closer to Malefor, placing a paw on his tail. "Thank you, Master Malefor. No one's ever believed in me before. No one has ever been so kind to me before."

Malefor rose to his feet and replied, "What can I say? I see myself in you. Perhaps, in another world, you would have been my son."

"Like the world we're making right now?" asked War hopefully, tugging on Malefor's tail.

Malefor looked down at War and thought for a while. After a moment, he gave a sigh and shook his head. "Come. Help me finish the threshold."

They both went back to work, fashioning the second half of the arch. The job took several hours to complete, but once it was done, Malefor stepped back and looked it over. When he determined that it was perfect, he searched for the sun and realized that it was already dipping below the horizon. "It's been a long day. Let's get some sleep."

War let out a yawn and crawled into one of his lava pits. Before he settled down beneath the surface of the burning puddle he said, "Good night, Master Malefor. And thank you."

"You're very welcome, War. And remember what I said about spreading your troops. I want those four islets occupied in the next two days."

Saluting Malefor, War replied, "Will do, Master Malefor. Good night." With that, War disappeared into the depths of the lava, and Malefor returned to Mount Genesis.

XXX

The next day, Malefor awoke in his quarters in the scorching depths of Mount Genesis. Rising to his feet, he prepared to open a portal. Making his way to the Pit, he placed a paw on his threshold and commanded it to open a door. The massive purple dragon walked through the magical gateway and stepped into a lush jungle. The earth smelled of fresh rain and exotic plant life. A cacophonous chorus of thousands of birds filled the air at first, but all fell silent as Malefor touched the ground on the other side of the portal. Smirking with a smug sense of satisfaction, he allowed the portal to close behind him and announced to the suddenly hushed trees, "Your master returns. I see my presence carries as much weight as it ever did. Good, good. All would do well to never forget."

The Dark Master made his way between the bamboo and the ghastly thin trees with their hanging vines and their dense canopies. The trees looked to Malefor like ridiculously top heavy giants with long, spindly arms useless for anything other than annoyingly smacking into the faces of passersby. Occasionally, stone totems slipped into view between the thick foliage, their hideously grinning faces covered with a twisting overgrowth of moss, lichen, and the snaking vein vines that flourished in the Tall Plains.

Several minutes into his walk, Malefor reached a break in the trees and came to a halt at the edge of an impossibly high cliff. Clouds drifted by several feet below, just out of reach. Taking a look around, Malefor counted dozens of the curious elevated islands. Some were easily a mile across, others were barely big enough for a dragon to perch on, but all were dwarfed by the largest island in the center of it all. Taking flight, Malefor made his way toward the main island in the distance. As the land mass crept closer, Malefor began to wheeze, his breathing became labored and he had to touch down on one of the miniscule islets to catch his breath.

"Hmm, the air is a bit thin up here. I forgot about that."

After island hopping for several minutes, Malefor was finally met by a patrol of wyvern class grublins that swarmed out of the jungle to meet him. When they recognized that it was their master who came calling and not an intruder, they broke formation and returned to their posts. Malefor hummed with pleasure at their response to his arrival and landed at the edge of the main plateau that formed the heart of Tall Plains. As he worked his way further inland, more and more troops passed him. Delight lit Malefor's eyes as he made his way through the jungle, observing the surprisingly thorough job Famine was doing commanding his troops. He had not seen such organization since his last reign.

After several minutes of pushing his way toward the center of the plateau, Malefor finally found the village that Famine had commandeered. He let out a puzzled hum as he took stock of the area. To his surprise, the village didn't look like it had just been stormed by an army. Unlike War, Famine had had the battlefield cleaned of nearly every sign that there had ever been a struggle. The only hint of the goings on of three days ago was the faint scent of death still hanging in the air. Marveling at Famine's efficiency, Malefor uttered, "And I thought he was the slow one."

Opening his mind, the Dark Master called, "Oh Famine, where are you? I've come to check up on your progress."

Amophis flowed invisibly through the air as the clipped reply shot back. "I'm here."

An image of Famine's nest faded into Malefor's mind's eye, allowing him to make his way through the village as though it were home. As he ventured further into the village, the reek of fermentation grew more and more dense. Soon it was all Malefor could do to breathe as the odor dominated his sensitive draconic olfactory senses. Calling forth a wind in an attempt to blow the foulness away, Malefor held his head down to breathe into his shoulder. It was then that he noticed the faint streaks of crimson in the grass trailing away toward his destination.

Understanding filled Malefor's eyes as he bobbed his head in approval. "Good, I see it has begun with this one already."

Malefor finally found a curtained entrance in the side of one of the buildings and poked his head inside. Doing his best to ignore the nearly unbearable stench, he asked, "Famine?"

Inside, past a massive pile of rotting bodies, sat Famine, who was feasting on the remains of his foes. He tore himself away from the abdomen of his latest choice and licked away the remaining bits of entrails from his muzzle. "Hi."

Malefor stared back at the youngling for a moment and slowly replied, "Hi. Come out here, Famine. Let us walk and talk."

Famine lifted himself up and walked past his spoiling spoils and into the light. When the curtain concealed the chilling sight once more, Malefor lifted himself up and said, "This way, Famine."

When they were a fair enough distance from the scent of decay, Malefor breathed deeply and asked, "So, how are things faring here?"

Famine looked around the village and watched his troops for a moment before replying, "My army does all the work I tell it to. It's nice. I thought being a general was supposed to be hard."

Malefor nodded and said, "It certainly is nice, but being a general is supposed to be difficult to at least some degree. It takes a strategic mind and careful planning to run an army. I'll be straight with you. While I have come here for one reason in particular, another purpose of my visit was to assess the job you're doing and instruct you further from there. However, you appear to be doing considerably better than I had hoped. I would never have guessed that you would be so effective at commanding an army. Hmm, seems I've discovered your special skill. They say everyone has at least one."

Famine simply shrugged his shoulders and thickly replied, "I dunno, I just kind of . . . you know, tell them to do what seems to make the most sense."

"Indeed. Well, since you seem to be doing so well here, tell me, what are your plans for the future?"

"I do what you tell me to."

"I mean the immediate future."

"Uh . . . walk and talk more with you?"

Letting out a sigh and composing himself, Malefor calmly replied, "Not that immediate. I mean, what else do you plan on having your army accomplish before I give you new orders?"

"Oh," came Famine's reply as understanding finally nudged its way past his thick skull. "Let's see, I've set up an inner per-peri-perimeter? Yeah, that sounds right. It's around the village."

"Yes," sighed Malefor as he shook his head in disbelief. "If you're talking about the formation the troops around the village are holding, that's called a per-i-me-ter."

"'K. I've done that, then I've posted more troops at regular . . . uhm, spots? Around the jungle? On this big rock thing."

"So what you're telling me is that you've posted troops at regular intervals around the main plateau?"

"Uh, yeah. That sounds right. Then I told the grublins that can fly to make nests on some of the surrounding islands. I don't think they're done with that yet, but they're coming along. I've figured out how to make more grublins, too. So I've been making kinds different from the ones you gave to me."

Malefor raised an eyebrow at this and asked, "How are you making grublins? You do not possess the ability to create Amophis producing crystals to power them."

"Yeah, that does make them weaker. Even though I don't have the dark crystals to power them forever, I've used green crystals I've found growing in the jungle to give them life. It works for now, but I thought maybe you would bless the crystals for me during a visit so they would work better."

"I would certainly do so if they prove worth it," said Malefor thoughtfully. "What else have you done to prepare?"

"If you give me lots of black crystals to stock up on, I have something special in mind, though I'd like it to be a surprise."

"Very good, Famine. Why don't you go ahead and show me some of these new grublin models?"

"Okay, they're over here." Famine led Malefor toward the largest building in the village.

Once inside, Malefor noticed that many places in the ceiling looked like they were crumbling. "Famine, why does this building look like its falling apart?"

Famine looked up and replied, "I, uh, got rid of all of the walls in here. This place used to be a bunch of rooms, but I wanted to make it one big workshop. Okay, first up is this one. I call it the wyrm."

Malefor looked down before slowly tilting his head back up. What he had originally assumed was a giant pile of rubble from the busted walls was actually a rather sizable grublin coiled into a ball. It uncurled itself as Famine introduced it to Malefor and raised its head to inspect Malefor with cold, beady eyes. Malefor hummed with pleasure and remarked, "Incredible. I couldn't even tell it was right in front of me."

Famine smiled up at Malefor and happily replied, "I wanted it to be strong yet stealthy, so I made it huge, but gave it the ability to blend in nearly anywhere. It's also super-fast, so if anyone ever accidentally happened upon it, it could end them really quick. It's about fifty feet long, and can squeeze a tree into splinters when it's coiled around one, so you can imagine what it would do to an enemy. Also, I've given it venom sacks filled with oil from kavok plants that allow it to poison any bite victims, just in case they somehow manage to get away. Kavok oil is the most poisonous stuff in the world, so anyone getting bit by this thing will die unless it happens to be a poison dragon, and even then it will be highly unpleasant."

Malefor stood back from the wyrm and studied it with a look that almost mirrored pride. "Such a masterpiece. Famine, you may not be the brightest among your friends, but you know something? You're a real artist. It took a lot of ingenuity to come up with this."

Bouncing up and down excitedly, Famine asked, "You really think so? I've always wanted to make stuff like this, but no one has ever asked me what I wanted to do before, so I've never gotten the chance. Every time I've tried on my own, my friends or my parents would stop me and tell me I was just going to hurt myself or something."

Malefor looked down at his suddenly sullen general once more, appraising him more deeply this time. "Now I see. You've always hungered for a chance to prove yourself. Your appetite for creative self-expression has never been sated. Truly, I chose well when I picked you, General Famine."

Raising a paw, Malefor felt out the energy given off by the green crystals in the wyrm and filled them with darkness. "There, this creature now lives on Amophis. It shall do your bidding until it is destroyed in battle. Now, you said you had other models. What else is there?"

Elated once more, Famine bounced over to another section of the workshop and halted. "This massive boulder is not a boulder."

Malefor looked at the thing that indeed looked to be an enormous boulder. It dominated half of the workshop. "What is it, then?"

"It's lots of things," replied Famine enthusiastically. "It's in the form of a giant turtle." As he said this, the boulder cracked in half horizontally, and five holes appeared, from which four legs and a head sprouted. "Even though it looks big, it's actually hollow for the most part. This allows it to carry lots of troops safely from one point to another. If it is used on the battlefield, I would send several of these things in as my first wave. The layer of rock that covers its shell is strong, but its true defense is the thin layer of diamond underneath it. Now I know what you're thinking. Where did I find diamonds, let alone enough to make this thing? Funny thing, the Atlawa's treasury is full of them. Fitting them together is a simple matter of using my Amophis enhanced earth magic to fuse them together. Even then, it was really difficult, so I'd like to see even Earth Master Terrador use magic to break them back down into pieces.

"The diamond shell covers the top and the bottom, and the 'bones' that I gave the creature are made out of diamond, too, so no taking the cheap route and breaking the legs to make it immobile. The shell doesn't cover everything, but I promise that's on purpose. It covers enough to make it pretty much impen . . . uh . . . impene. . ."

"Impenetrable," said Malefor as he listened to Famine's description in awe.

"Yeah, that! But there are little slits under the moss all over its back where archers hiding inside can safely cut down scores of enemies. This makes it a moving fortress that's as good as the amount of ammunition it can carry, which I'm betting is enough to last it for months without stopping to reload. And since grublins don't need to eat or drink, they'll last forever in there. Also, the turtle may be slow, which is about the only drawback to this thing that I can think of, but it's even stronger than the wyrm. Given enough time, it can probably nudge into just about anything and eventually knock it down or out of the way. That includes trees barricades, even gates. You know, like city gates."

"I love the way you think," replied Malefor, clearly impressed. "What do you call this second masterpiece?"

Famine kicked the ground and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I couldn't really think of anything. There was this one name I really wanted to settle on, but it's really big and I don't know how to pronounce it."

Lifting the youngling's chin, Malefor gave him a smile and asked, "Can you try to sound it out for me?"

Famine nodded and said, "The name has something to do with magical turtles. It starts with . . . as . . . aspi . . . uh . . . do. . ."

"Aspidochelone?" asked Malefor.

"That's it! Wow, Master Malefor, you sure are smart. Yeah, I've heard stories about them. They say that they're giant turtles that live in the ocean and carry islands on their backs. This one isn't quite that big, but it does carry a miniature civilization inside its shell."

"Beautifully done, Famine. This one is even more impressive than your last. How long did it take you to make this?"

"All day yesterday," replied Famine with his head held high.

"You built this in a day? Will your wonders never cease?"

"So you'll darken its crystals?" asked Famine hopefully.

"With pleasure," replied Malefor. He raised his paw and felt out the energy signature from the crystals that powered the creature. What he found was one giant crystal gathered around a column in the center of the beast. When questioned about it, Famine informed him that the column was made out of diamond and that it served to connect the top and bottom halves of the shell.

Once Amophis flowed through the creation, Malefor lowered his head and said, "I'd really like to see you outdo this one, Famine."

"I just might," replied Famine with glee. "Over here!" Famine led Malefor toward the final section of the workshop and stopped.

"Where is it?" asked Malefor after a moment.

"I call these mites." Famine gestured to the floor and a faint mist rose up from the dirt floor to hover in the air. The youngling held out a paw before bringing it up for Malefor to look at.

When the Dark Master leaned down, he was barely able to make out a speck resting on Famine's claw. "What? How did you make something so small?"

"I paw-made this one myself. It's pretty much just a flake of granite with the smallest chips of crystals em . . . embed . . . embedded? Yeah, into it."

"Where did you find the time to make all of these?" asked Malefor as he gestured at the cloud in front of them. "There must be millions."

"That's the beauty of them," replied Famine. "I only made the one I'm holding right now then I set it free on the walls in this building. Within an hour the walls were gone and this swarm was all that was left of them."

"They reproduce?" asked Malefor in disbelief.

"Yes, out of the buildings they destroy! And the more of them there are, the faster they reproduce, which means the faster they destroy."

"The swarm grows and becomes more powerful at an exponential rate," remarked Malefor.

"Yup!" shouted Famine. "The only down side is that the mites can't carry very much of the crystal because of their size. Each one can hold enough to animate only one other chip, so a swarm can only double in size before needing to resupply on crystal. This swarm only grew so fast because I left a crystal in here for their needs."

"Still, it's an excellent addition to the army," replied Malefor, nodding his head in approval. "Since they can fly, a swarm several times this size can act as a mobile siege unit. Outstanding work Famine. You're a thousand times the general I expected you to be already. I mean it."

"Oh, thank you thank you thank you soooo much, Master Malefor," replied Famine as Malefor darkened the crystals inside the mites.

When he was finished he said, "I've taken the liberty of enhancing your mites in another way to keep them efficient. From now on, any green crystals they get ahold of will also be charged to generate Amophis."

Bowing his head gratefully, Famine said, "Thank you, Master Malefor. I'm so glad you liked all of my creations."

"Yes, keep up the good work," nodded Malefor. "Now, if there's nothing else for you to show me, I think it's time I told you why I really came here."

Now Famine looked up in askance, appearing curious for the first time since Malefor showed up. "What's that?"

"I came here to build you a bridge."

"A bridge? To where?"

"To Warfang."

"That's going to be a long bridge," replied Famine.

Malefor chuckled at the youngling and replied, "Not the way I'm going to build it. This specific type of bridge is called a threshold. And with your help, it will take only the rest of the day to build."

The next several hours passed quickly. Building the arch was something that Famine excelled at. His Amophis enhanced powers over the earth allowed him to fuse the crystals together with Malefor, making the job go by much faster than anticipated. When the arch was complete, Malefor turned to Famine. "You've done an excellent job as a general. Keep building more of those grublins of yours. And I'd specifically like to commission a dozen of those aspidochelones, so give building more of those top priority. I believe that those will prove to be indispensable. I've granted you a large stock of Amophis crystal. You've proven to me that you are trustworthy enough to use it as you see fit. Let me know when you run low and I'll be more than happy to load you up with more."

"Thank you again, Master Malefor. For everything. For believing in me and what I do."

Malefor rubbed the youngling's head and replied, "You have a gift, Famine. It was in you all along. You just needed someone to let you use it. I'm off to Mount Genesis for the night. Keep up the good work."

"So long, Master Malefor."

XXX

After a long night of rest in the peacefully warm and softly rumbling depths of Mount Genesis, Malefor found himself standing in the frozen wastes of Dante's Freezer. The extreme cold to a dragon was nothing more than slightly unpleasant, but Malefor found himself swishing his tail in frustration at the need to leave the ideal temperatures of his volcano stronghold. The Dark Master sighed to himself and mumbled, "After twenty years, you'd think I'd never want to see the place again, but I suppose it's grown on me."

Giving himself a moment to steel himself for his trek through the snow, Malefor set out toward the center of the island. Feeling the Amophis energy several miles inward after a quick search, he decided it would be much more expeditious to fly there. Five minutes later, the Dark Master touched down in the middle of a fortress courtyard surrounded by a formidable outer wall and filled with legions of the undead. All recognized one of the few specific individuals who Death gave them orders to allow safe passage.

Malefor ventured into the fortress unopposed and made his way toward the unmistakable feeling given off by Death's armor. When he arrived at the top floor of the castle, an undead soldier every bit as tall as him stood in his way. "Mmm, Dante, I presume? Step aside. I have business with General Death."

The giant of a man wordlessly shuffled out of the way, allowing Malefor to enter the room beyond the final door in the fort. There, in the middle of the room, Death sat with his eyes closed and his armor pulsing, releasing powerful waves of Amophis downward with each thrum of energy. Malefor cocked his head with curiosity and asked, "What are you doing, Death?"

Death opened his eyes and regarded Malefor with a look of quiet recognition. "I'm killing the land."

Malefor raised his head and asked, "I beg your pardon?"

Death closed his eyes once more and replied, "Now that I have power over death, I can feel the presence of life. Just yesterday, I finally realized that the earth itself is somehow alive in a way, so I've been sitting up here all day pouring my power into the land. It's not working, though. I haven't felt even the slightest bit of a shift in the strength of the life force."

A chuckle escaped Malefor's throat as he listened to Death's explanation for what he was doing. "My boy, you'll never kill that which you can feel coming from below. Your time would be better spent trying to find the source rather than trying to kill it. The land is not something that you can just kill, so you may cease this senseless venture and focus on more productive pursuits. I suggest forming a blockade by having your forces occupy the five islets south of here."

"Oh, I've already done that," replied Death with a wave of his paw. "It takes about a day of travel to get from one to the next, so the armada I sent south should be occupying the final islet tomorrow. I wanted to get an early start on expanding my territory."

"Excellent work, Death. Just make sure you don't spread your resources too thin."

Death picked the dirt out from under his claws as he said, "I'll be taking a trip south in two days' time to meet my forces on the northern shore of mainland Avalar. From there, we will march south and purge the land of all opposition until we reach Mount Genesis. With me there to lead them in person, my army will only grow, not shrink."

Malefor raised his eyebrows at Death's plans. "That's certainly an ambitious plan, Death. Are you sure you can pull that off?"

"I don't see why not. Especially when all I have to do to vanquish my enemies is touch them. Taking on Avalar will be all too easy. Everyone in the north will recognize General Death as their lord and master."

"I like your enthusiasm, but I have come today to make you something that will make your job a lot easier than marching halfway across Avalar. But before we get into that, what do you plan on doing tomorrow since your troops won't reach the mainland until then?"

Death pointed out of one of his many broken windows and said, "I'd like to check out that rather sizable island to the north. It's funny, I thought Dante's Freezer was the final island to the north of the mainland, but I'm picking up an enormous life force from that direction."

Malefor shook his head and said, "Much as I'd like you to storm that place and raze it to the ground, you won't be able to penetrate the Northern Divide."

"The Northern Divide?" inquired Death with a look of confusion. "What's that?"

"It's a colossal spiritual barrier so powerful that not even I am capable of smashing through, and most likely the source of that huge life force you're feeling."

"What's a barrier that powerful doing way out here?" asked Death incredulously.

Malefor let out a low growl as he replied, "It sections off the rest of the world from the White Isle, home of the Celestial Caves, which happen to be the eternal post of the fabled oracle, the Chronicler."

A look of disbelief flashed across Death's face as he asked, "You mean Dante's Freezer is right outside the Chronicler's doorstep?"

"Yes," replied Malefor in a cool tone that calmed Death a bit. "But unfortunately, all we can do is block it off from the rest of Avalar. That's one of the reasons why I placed you here. One of your most important jobs is making sure no one reaches the White Isle. If I know the Chronicler, he'll want to use all of his resources to try to interfere with my plans. He's tried to do it before, so the only thing stopping him from doing it again is you."

Placing a paw against his heart, Death replied with the most serious face, "I will not let that happen."

"Good. See that you don't. Now, on to the original nature of my visit. You said earlier that you would like to march all the way from the northern shore of Avalar to Mount Genesis, which lies at the very heart of the mainland. How about instead of doing something that would take you weeks, I give you a way to get to Warfang in a day?"

Death scratched the back of his neck and said, "If I use my Amophis to charge up a portal, I can do that myself."

"Ah, but you couldn't bring that many of your forces through it with you, could you?"

"I don't guess so, no."

Malefor leaned down and asked, "How would you like it if I built you a dark crystal arch capable of acting as a threshold to wherever you desire?"

Death perked up immediately and said, "That would be great! It certainly would be much more efficient than my original plan. Are there other such thresholds?"

Malefor gave his general a thin smile and replied, "Three such thresholds already exist."

"Oh wow. I see you've been busy, too, Master Malefor."

"I make it a point to make good use of my time. We're not going to reshape Avalar into a true paradise unless we're vigilant. Powerful though we may be, there are equally powerful forces working against us. We have to do our very best if we're going to come out on top this time around."

Death nodded in agreement and pounded a paw into the ground. "Alright then. Let's get started."

Death proved to be far less of a help than Famine. Without the ability to fuse crystals together, Malefor had to do all of the real work on his own. Still, Death was able to order his troops to gather crystals and bring them to the Dark Master so that his stash did not get too low. When the day was gone and the night brought with it a somehow even bitterer cold than before with a biting wind that would pierce any creature other than a dragon, Malefor was finally finished with the threshold. It stood glistening in the reflected light of the twin moons on the snow. The shimmering facets were the only sign that there was anything at all standing in front of the dark canopy of the sky.

Unable to truly see the final product of all his hard work, Malefor turned to Death and said, "That will be all, Death. I will let you know when I have more orders for you. For now, rest, relax, and enjoy yourself. It won't be too long before I'm ready for everyone to begin our assault on Warfang. Until then."

XXX

Pestilence rose from his bed with a start as Malefor strolled through a portal that had suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. An excited grin spread across the youngling's face as the Dark Master appeared. "Finally! Someone to talk to. I've been so bored for the past . . . what's it been? I think five days now? Yeah, for five days I've been sitting here and waiting for something to do. You know, on the first and second days, it absolutely killed me. On the third day, I just slept all day to keep from thinking about it. On the fourth day, I found a way to play a game with myself by counting the lightning strikes outside. I lost track somewhere around five thousand four hundred seventy-three, because there's always lightning here every day even though it never actually storms. Then yesterday I just sat here. I sat here. And I waited. That's all. I didn't even sleep. I just waited. For something to do."

Malefor leaned down until he was eye level with Pestilence and replied, "Good. Then you have finally learned patience. And for the record, being stuck in one place with nothing to do for five days is nothing compared to twenty years."

Pestilence's face screwed up in disgust at the idea. "Geez, Master Malefor. Even I had the chance to go down to the fortress grounds and hunt for the eels that live here. What did you eat?"

"I don't."

Pestilence's expression was immediately replaced by one of consternation. "Come again?"

Malefor blinked and replied, "I don't require sustenance. My magic gives me everything I need to remain alive."

Unable to believe his ears, Pestilence's eyes widened with shock. "Whoa. You're not awesome at using magic. You _are_ magic. Or . . . some sort of shell that houses it."

Malefor winced at the comment and replied bitterly, "You'd best hold your tongue, Pestilence. I didn't live over a thousand years, nearly conquer the world, be banished from my home and people, have my soul ripped from my body, return to the physical plane, nearly conquer the world again, be beaten in my hour of victory, and return again just to be insulted by one of my vassals."

Lowering his head, Pestilence said, "I'm sorry, Master Malefor. I was merely making a comment in awe of your abilities. I did not mean to offend."

Malefor stamped a paw on the ground and replied, "Apology accepted, though, for future reference, I will not be called a shell."

Nodding his head in understanding, Pestilence looked up and gingerly asked, "For what reason am I graced by your presence?"

After taking a moment to compose himself, Malefor lowered his head and replied, "You need the most help out of all your friends. You are a general without an army."

"But . . . that's not really my fault . . . is it?"

Malefor shook his head. "Of course not. Yours is an army that needed and still needs time to grow. Though, if my calculations are correct, you should be getting your first troop right . . . about . . . now."

Just as Malefor finished speaking, a tiny creature no bigger than Pestilence leapt through the open window and rushed forward, nearly colliding with Pestilence. He closed his eyes and braced himself for impact, but the surprise visitor came to an abrupt halt and swiftly bowed at Pestilence's feet. "Creator! I've journeyed far to reach you. It has been a long week for me, but I've finally made it. Tell me, Creator, what would you wish of me?"

Pestilence opened his eyes and looked down. Glancing up at Malefor, he asked, "Why is there a fear dragon kneeling to me and calling me Creator?"

"A thousand apologies, Creator," answered the creature as he lifted himself up. "I know what I look like, but that was just a disguise to protect me. I'm not a fear dragon. You see, I'm a blood dragon. My name is Helix." The creature suddenly morphed into a shapeless blob as it finished explaining itself.

Pestilence backed up as it did so and shouted, "Ew, change back!"

The creature did as it was told and nodded its head happily. "If this form is pleasing to you, I'd be more than happy to retain it for you, Creator."

Pestilence looked back to Malefor and asked, "Master Malefor, what is this thing?"

Malefor placed a paw on Helix's shoulder and replied, "This creature is your most loyal follower. It is your troop zero. The first of many in your long line of forces to come. Helix, from what creature did you spawn?"

Without hesitation, Helix replied, "The Ice Master, Cyril."

"You see, Pestilence," explained Malefor. "When you attacked Warfang to retrieve Zar so that we might complete out collection of generals, you spread your power like a disease across Warfang. This creature is the end result of the outbreak. When your victims become too sick, depending on what they're infected with, one of several things can happen. Some strains of your disease can turn the wills of others to follow yours. It can also enhance every aspect of their physical capabilities. But there is another strain that will turn hosts into incubators. The disease will then multiply and coalesce inside the hosts, forming an Amophis presence concentrated enough to spawn blood dragons like this one. It's basically a giant blood blot animated by pure Amophis and given a consciousness of its own.

"What's more, no matter what type of underling to you is formed, be it a blood dragon, a turned individual, or some other beast created by your power, they are all connected by the brethren Amophis signature that they all share. And since this Amophis was given to them by you, that means that you are capable of connecting to them, too. You have just been oblivious to this connection, but it's been inside you all along. Feel your connection with Helix and anyone he has added to your army since his inception."

Pestilence looked to Helix once more and inched forward, reaching out a paw to the creature that paraded as a dragon. Helix held out a paw as well, and when the two of them touched, Pestilence instantly understood everything about him. All of the knowledge of his army as it was passed into him in the blink of an eye. It was too much. Obtaining all of that knowledge at once gave him a seizure and made him pass out.

Helix looked down and asked, "What's the matter? Did I do something wrong?"

Malefor pat Helix on the back and replied, "No, he's just undergoing a bit of a transformation, much like you did when you went from being a bunch of blood and Amophis to a combination of both working in tandem. He should come to by the end of the day. Until he does, you can watch me build the threshold that must be stationed here. If I finish and leave before he comes to, I need you to inform him of this."

When Malefor finished explaining the purpose of the threshold to Helix he began his work on it. Helix watched Malefor far below in the grounds from the window for hours, remaining by Pestilence's side all the while. Malefor finished the threshold and left through it before Pestilence awoke, giving Helix the signal that it was his job to catch Pestilence up on what he needed to know. Another hour after Malefor left, Pestilence raised his head and groggily rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Huh? What happened? Wait. I see now. Helix."

A swarm of knowledge filled Pestilence's mind. It was all his to know, but it was really Helix and Alabaster's thoughts and memories he was thinking and remembering. "This . . . this is incredible."

Helix relished the feeling of connectedness as Pestilence's elation drifted across the link. "Creator, we are finally one."

"No," replied Pestilence. "Call me Pestilence."

"_Yes, Pestilence,_" replied Helix and Alabaster together. Strangely enough, Pestilence thought this to himself as well.

"This is going to take some getting used to," said Pestilence to himself, feeling the oneness with his fellows once more as their thoughts whispered echoes of his speech back to him. "How can this be?" asked Pestilence. "I can see so much at once. What lies before me. I see myself through your eyes, Helix. And Mjölnir, too. All at once. And yet, it doesn't blend together. Each image is its own, but I see them all as if from one point of view. It's glorious."

"_Glorious_," repeated the rest of them.

"_What are we, Pestilence?_" asked Helix.

"_If we are one,_" continued Alabaster, "_then what does that make us? I'm a mole, you're a dragon, and Helix is neither. And yet . . . we are all three and more. Master, Pestilence. Tell us, what are we?_"

Pestilence breathed in as the thoughts and emotions collected within him, making them all his. Then, with a sigh of contended belonging, he replied, "Helix has already named us. We are Phylum."


	26. Chapter 25 Gifts

Chapter 25- Gifts

After shifting into Yarrow's garden, Wither and Renna happened upon a scene they didn't quite know how to interpret. Cynder was covered from head to tail in flowers sprouting up between her scales, and Spyro had somehow been fused into the trunk of an oak tree way too thick to be natural. Yarrow was watched them with a bemused expression and shaking his head. "Eh, not quite. Better try again."

Giving each other sideways glances, Wither and Renna burst out into rolling laughter. Renna tried to use Wither as a crutch to remain standing, but he rolled to the side, causing her to fall on top of him. They then proceeded to hold each other until Wither was crying into Renna's shoulder. "Are you okay?" asked Renna between giggles as she pat him on the back.

"Yeah," said Wither as he wiped a paw across his face and extricated himself from Renna. "I just wasn't expecting _this_!" he said as he gestured to his parents, who were quietly fuming at the intrusion.

"You know," said Spyro in a clipped tone, "this really isn't a good time. Why don't you just go back to wherever it is you two came from and leave us alone for, oh say, the rest of the day?"

"Sorry to bother you," said Wither as he attempted rather unsuccessfully to compose himself.

"You don't look all that sorry to me," said Cynder with a flat expression as she watched Wither poorly suppress a giggle while flicking one of the flowers growing from her body.

"That's okay. You both look sorry enough for me," said Wither.

Renna let out a sharp laugh and shouted, "Oh, Wither! Are you a fire dragon? 'Cause you just burned them goooood."

Spyro let out a sound that could have either been a purr or a growl before he said, "Sounds to me like a couple certain younglings have forgotten who their teachers are." Renna sucked her lips in and ducked her head as she turned her smiling eyes to Wither.

"Let's not forget who their real teacher is," said Yarrow as he tapped Cynder on the nose, forcing all of the flora covering her body to recede. "Remember that your status as masters is honorary. There is still much that you two younglings must learn as well." Yarrow reached into the oak tree, his paw melding with the wood, and pulled Spyro out.

"I know we're not true master age yet," retorted Spyro as he rolled his shoulders and rubbed his wrists, "but we're hardly younglings."

Yarrow slapped Spyro in the side with his tail, nearly knocking him to the ground. "Please, Spyro. I'm three times your size."

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Spyro as he rubbed his ribs.

Raising himself up to his full height so he could look down his nose at Spyro, Yarrow replied, "Need I remind you that we dragons never stop growing until the day we die? True, our growth slows as we age, but surely even you must recognize that I am easily a time and a half the size of Terrador, our second largest master, who is over six hundred years old. Do the math, Spyro. You and Cynder, at a measly thirty-five are but children in my eyes. And I'll not be spoken to in that tone by children."

Wither shifted to the top of Yarrow's head and dangled a paw in front of one of his eyes. "Come on, Yarrow. Quit playing around. They've had enough."

Yarrow rolled his eyes back to peer at Wither for a moment then allowed a smile to crack through his stern expression. "Oh alright then. Can't fool you, can I?"

"Psh, since when have you ever been mister tough guy. That's Terrador, not you."

Yarrow sat down and looked to Renna. "So, what have you come back here so soon for? Am I to take it Wither didn't get enough last time?"

Wither punched Yarrow at the base of one of his horns and growled. "No. We came to ask you a question."

"Oh, I like questions. Alright then. What question do you two have for me?"

Renna glanced up at Wither, but he waved a paw at her and said, "Nah, go ahead. You ask him."

Taking a breath, Renna said, "We went to the library today to show Wylee around. Once we got there, everyone spread out, so Wither took me to the roof to meet Holly."

"Ah, yes," said Yarrow with a fond smile. "I haven't spoken to her for a couple days. I've been busy rebuilding my garden. You know, she taught me everything I knew about being a life dragon until I was old enough and wise enough to begin teaching myself."

Renna nodded and continued. "So I met her for the first time today, because I didn't really know about her until Wither told me she was up there on the library roof. And when I went up to say hello, she touched me in the middle of my forehead with one of her roots."

Yarrow's eyebrows arched with interest as she revealed this. "She moved?"

"Yes."

"That's impressive. For you to elicit such a reaction must mean she saw something very important in you."

Renna curled her tail around herself and fiddled nervously with her tail spade. "So, what do you think she was trying to say to me?"

Yarrow stared at the ground for a moment, licking the inside of one of his cheeks in thought. Then he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Huh, I don't know. Let me ask her."

Yarrow made a pulling gesture toward Spyro and Cynder forcing their bodies toward him. They yelped in surprise, though he shushed them quickly and said, "Calm down. I just need to use you all as a springboard to speak with Holly. She's rather far away and I'd rather not go all the way there to talk to her in person. You know I need life to build my network and right now my garden isn't strong enough to fulfill its purposes."

Spyro, Cynder, Wither, and Renna all felt a wave of energy pass through their nervous systems as Yarrow used their bodies to boost his mental signal. When he appeared satisfied, Yarrow asked the open air, "Hello? Master Holly?"

"_Master_ Holly?" asked Renna.

Wither whispered down from Yarrow's head, "She was his master when he was a youngling, remember?"

Yarrow blew upward into Wither's face with a scowl. "Shut up."

"_Excuse me?_" asked a voice from seemingly nowhere.

"No no. Not you, Master Holly. Some of my students were talking."

"_Oh, you mean Wither and that charming dragoness he brought with him to visit me?_"

"Yes, that's right," said Yarrow.

"Hello, Master Holly!" said Wither with an overabundance of enthusiasm.

Yarrow winced and said, "We're mentally connected, Wither. You don't have to shout."

However, a purr of delight filled their minds and Holly said, "_Hello, Wither. It's been a while since I've been able to speak with you. Directly or otherwise. Yarrow tells me you've been doing well._"

"I've been doing my best," said Wither.

"_No one can ask more of you. So Yarrow, I assume you have contacted me because Renna has asked you to relay my message to her, correct?_"

"That would be it," said Yarrow.

"_Very well. Renna, I wanted to bless you because when Wither introduced me to you, I sensed both a powerful presence and dreadful times ahead. You see, I am halfway between this world and the other world, so I can see the world unwinding. I have a faint knowledge of things before they happen and understand the workings of the universe in ways no living being can. Your spirit feels profoundly important to me, and the danger I sense in your future is most troubling. I just wanted you to have a touch of protection from your ancestors. It is a subtle power, one you will not be able to feel with you, but its effects are undeniable. No matter your trials ahead, you will always find a way to pull through._"

"Th-thank you," said Renna quietly.

"_Oh . . . I'm tired now. I must rest. It'd be best if you didn't contact me again for a few days, Yarrow._"

"Of course," said Yarrow. "Thank you for your help. Until next time."

The link closed and everyone stood around silently, looking anywhere but at Renna. Finally, Yarrow leaned down, allowing Wither to hop down. The ancient then faced Renna and said, "We all know tough times lie ahead. For everyone. Of course you would be no different. Just remember Holly's words. The ancestors are now with you in a way that they are not with others. They will take extra precautions to make certain that you come out of this war safe. So no fretting, alright?" Renna raised her head to look Yarrow in the eyes and slowly nodded in understanding.

Lifting himself up again, Yarrow stretched and let out a loud yawn. "Alright, that was a good break, but you two should be on your way now. I need to continue my lesson with Spyro and Cynder."

Wither wrapped his tail around Renna's and said, "Alright. Good luck with that. Try not to get stuck in anymore trees."

Cynder pointed toward one of the doors and said, "Get out."

Laughing maniacally, Wither walked away with Renna, shifting them back into the library. He glanced sideways at her and noticed the look on her face, causing his laughter to dim. "Aw, don't worry, Renna. If anything happens, I'll be there to protect you. I won't let anything bad happen to you. I promise."

Walking several more paces, Renna continued to stare down with a glum expression. Wither sighed and cast his head up in thought. Waving their tails side by side, he asked, "What can I do to cheer you up?"

The movement of Wither and Renna's tails finally caught her attention, and she noticed for the first time that he hadn't let go yet. A smile crept across her face and she finally brightened up, her scales visibly showing the improvement in her mood. "Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't worry. Everything will be just fine with you and the ancestors to protect me. Plus, I'm pretty tough, too."

"That you are," said Wither with a grin. "Glad you're feeling better. No need to waste your one day off of training with needless pessimism. It won't get you anywhere." Wither started to let go of Renna's tail, but hers coiled tighter in response. "Hey, Renna, what are you—" Wither tried to break free of Renna's steely grip, but when he looked across at her, he noticed a gleam in her eye. "You're not going to let go, are you?"

"Nope," was Renna's simple response.

Growing quiet, Wither asked, "But . . . my tail—"

"Do you want me to be happy or not?" asked Renna huffily.

"Uhm, yes?"

"Then let me keep your tail," said Renna with a firm expression.

Wither let out a sigh and asked, "Can you at least loosen your grip then?"

Renna uncurled her tail slightly and gave Wither the relief he asked for. "I don't think you need to worry about any danger, Renna. Just squeeze your enemies with your tail and they'll never breathe again."

Head held high, Renna wordlessly marched on, an air of victory radiating from every scale that adorned her vibrant body. When they reached a row of bookshelves that led back to the center of the library, several of their friends came into view. Sora and Psy were whispering quietly to one another while Wylee sat, poring over a dozen books at one of the tables.

When Wither and Renna came closer, Sora and Psy ceased their conversation and looked up. "Hey, what's going on?" asked Psy.

"Oh, nothing," said Wither. "We just went up to the roof to visit the last Life Master, Holly. Then we went to Yarrow's for a bit."

"You did all that?" asked Psy with raised eyebrows, but then he shook his head at his own disbelief and added, "You probably shifted a bunch didn't you?"

"Fastest way to travel," said Wither.

Psy leaned to the side and asked with a tiny grin, "What's uh . . . going on back there?"

Wither peered behind himself and turned back to Psy with a shoulder shrug. "She won't let go. I just grabbed her tail to make shifting easier for her, but now I'm a prisoner. Help me."

"Not a chance," said Psy. "The dragoness has spoken. Just roll with it."

Nodding his head, Wither asked, "So, did you two enjoy yourselves?" Renna slowly turned to look at Wither with an expressionless gaze that told him everything she wasn't saying.

Psy laughed lightly while Sora ducked her head ever so slightly. "Yeah, we've been having a pretty good day," said Psy. "But I don't think anyone can compete with Wylee over there. He's really in his element here. It took him ten minutes to track down a librarian and find all those books. He's been hard at it ever since he sat down. I don't think he even knows we're a double jump and a glide away."

"Have you seen the twins or our other favorite dynamic duo?" asked Renna.

Sora perked up and quietly muttered, "I saw Elleca leading Roxy toward one of the sections in the northeast corner of the library about half an hour ago, but I don't know where they went or what they're doing."

"Something sweaty and exciting, no doubt," said Psy revealing nearly all of his teeth before getting wanged over the head by Sora.

"Don't talk about your friends like that! It's rude!" Sora shouted so loudly that her voice echoed through the otherwise deserted library.

Wither and Renna stared at Sora wide-eyed for several long moments before Sora finally realized her outburst and let out a tiny 'eep,' ducking her head under one of her wings. Psy rubbed the top of his head with a paw and said, "Okay, geez. It was just a joke. You're gonna get us kicked out for shouting like that."

"I'm sorry," came the barely audible reply.

"It's okay," said Psy with a sigh and an eye roll. "You don't have to apologize."

Shaking her head, Sora yelled in a whisper from under her wing. "I'm sorry."

Psy grabbed her wing and pulled it back to reveal her face. Taking it in one paw, he leaned down and squeezed her cheeks together. "Stop apologizing. Seriously. You're fine."

Calming down, Sora said, "Okay. I'm sorry."

Placing two claws between his eyes, Psy rubbed his snout before turning back and continuing. "Anyway, there's no telling how long they're going to be gone or where the twins even ran off to, so if there's anything else you guys wanted to do today, you might as well go for it. Otherwise, you'll be stuck waiting around here all day."

A tiny mole stepped out from behind a couple bookshelves and asked, "Who was that who shouted so loudly?"

"That would be me," said Psy without hesitation.

"You? It was a woman's voice."

Stroking the top of his head slowly, Psy said, "I'm a woman trapped in a man's body."

"Get out of here," said the librarian with an angry huff.

Psy threw his head back in mock fury and said, "Well, fine then. We were just leaving anyway. Come, Sora. Let us not waste another moment freeing ourselves of this glorified _hovel_."

"_Hovel?_" said the librarian in horrified fury.

Psy snickered at the mole's expression as he made his way toward the exit with Sora. When he was gone, Wither addressed the mole. "You'll have to forgive him, Socrato. He's an idiot."

"I'll say," said Socrato in a fluster. "Honestly, Wither. The ones you choose to associate yourself with. Although, your girlfriend seems pleasant enough."

Wither grew scarlet under his facial scales and asked, "My . . . what?"

Socrato cocked his head and added, "Or lady friend, I suppose I should say. Tail buddy, maybe? Hmm, perhaps I've presumed too much. My apologies. Anyway, I have work to do. Good day to you both."

Socrato disappeared back behind the bookshelves only to be replaced by Roxy and Elleca. "What was all that shouting earlier?" asked Elleca.

"Nothing," said Wither and Renna together.

After a moment's hesitation, Elleca said, "Never mind. Anyway, we're bored. We've been trying to find something worth reading for the past hour and we've found nothing."

Wither pursed his lips and kicked at the floor. "Don't say it," said Renna in a barely audible whisper.

"How do you know what I'm going to say?" asked Wither.

Renna looked him in the eyes and smiled. "Don't say it."

"Okay," said Wither as he let the subject go.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Elleca. "Did I insult all of the precious books you've read here? I'm just not the bookish type like you."

"Yeah, I was going to say . . . something. To that effect," said Wither, trailing off.

Elleca eyed Wither in a way that made him feel most uncomfortable. "Yeah, for once, I'm with Renna. Don't say it. So, Wither. What are you doing later?"

Renna flicked her tail, pushing it and Wither's into view for a few moments. "We were going to the Elysian Garden in the Hedon District."

Roxy whistled and said, "Wow, that's a fantastic idea. I've only been there a couple times, but I remember enough to know that it's the most beautiful place in Warfang next to Yarrow's garden."

Elleca swished her tail as she stared Renna in the eyes. "How are you going to get in? Younglings aren't allowed in the Hedon District without adult supervision."

Renna turned to Wither and asked, "You've been to the Elysian Garden, haven't you?"

"Of course," said Wither. "My parents have taken me there many times."

"Then you can shift us into the garden and bypass the checkpoints that boarder the district," said Renna.

"Ooo, so little miss perfect isn't so innocent after all, hmm?" asked Elleca.

"Some rules were made to be broken. Wouldn't you agree?" Renna shot back. "Oh, wait. No, you probably think they're all made to be broken."

Inching forward, Elleca said, "I don't think I like your tone."

"Ladies, ladies," said Roxy. "What are you fighting for?"

Both dragonesses rounded on Roxy. "We're not fighting!"

Socrato popped his head around the corner and asked with extreme exasperation, "Do I have to kick you all out?"

Wither rubbed the back of his head and said, "Socrato, I thought you had work to do. Have you been eavesdropping on us?"

"I've been cleaning behind this bookshelf the whole time. Could you please get your friends under control?"

"Who else is in the library besides us?" asked Wither.

Socrato stared at Wither for a couple seconds before mumbling something about what he'd do if he wasn't talking to the son of the Purple Dragon and walked away. While Elleca was watching him leave, Wither tugged Renna to the side. Seconds later, they were standing in a barren field of dirt that very much reminded Wither of Yarrow's garden before he began the restoration process. "Aw, I forgot. Yarrow used all of the plants in Warfang to make the Ranvacoya. There's nothing here."

Renna shrugged her shoulders and said, "This is fine by me. Elleca's not here. That's all that matters."

"Why do you hate her?" asked Wither, unsuccessfully trying to win his tail back.

"I don't hate her," said Renna as she tightened her grip again. "She's just annoying."

"Free spirited, more like?" said Wither.

Renna rolled her eyes and let out a sarcastic laugh. "Pff, yeah. Free as the wind. If you ask me, she's free to blow away."

"That's not very nice," said Wither as he gave up on getting his tail back.

"Neither is sneaking in your room at night to watch you sleep," said Renna.

With a shiver Wither said, "Ugh, I forgot she did that. That was one of the creepiest things that's ever happened to me."

Nodding her head, Renna said, "Yes, and you'd do well to never forget it again. Got it?"

"Uhm . . . yes?"

"Good," said Renna with a purr. "Now, what do you want to do? Coming here was just an excuse to get away from that crazy dragoness, but since there's nothing here, we should move on. I don't feel like spending the rest of the day in the middle of nowhere."

Wither looked around before turning back to Renna. "I dunno. What do you want to do?"

Renna lit up at being asked what she wanted to do and asked in a hushed tone, "Do you want to try to sneak into the part of the Hedon District that makes it a restricted area for younglings?"

Wither raised an eyebrow at his brightening friend and asked, "What's that supposed to mean? What part of the Hedon District is off limits to younglings? And why would it be? I've never heard of such a thing."

Renna's face went blank for several seconds before a mischievous grin crept across her face. "Really? You're that sheltered? Wow, your parents didn't just keep you from doing anything, they kept you from _knowing_ about anything."

"That's not true," said Wither with a shake of his head. "I've read countless books in the library. It's practically all I ever did with myself. I know a lot of things."

"But you don't know about. . ." Renna paused for a moment and stared at Wither with a strange look on her face.

"What? What don't I know about?" asked Wither. "I know there're lots of things. No one can know everything. Not even Master Volteer. But you're acting like everyone but me knows about it."

"Everyone does," said Renna as she covered her face in disbelief.

"What is it?" asked Wither.

"Just . . . never mind. It was a stupid idea anyway. I just thought it would be fun to have a look around since there's no one around to keep watch over the broth—uh . . ."

"Broth?" asked Wither waving her onward with circular paw movements.

"Nothing," said Renna. "Forget it. It wouldn't be fun now anyway. It's only fun if you know you're not supposed to be there. You wouldn't get it."

"I would if you told me."

"Wither, I am not going to be the one to tell you. Let's just go enjoy the view of the city from your roof or something."

"How about or something?" asked Wither.

"Okay, what do you want to do?" asked Renna.

"Let's go to the perimeter," said Wither.

Renna gave Wither a confused glance and asked, "The defensive perimeter?"

"Yeah," said Wither with an eager nod. "I want to see what everyone is doing up close."

"Okay, lead the way," said Renna.

Wither tugged them in another direction and they were instantly in the fields outside Warfang. An earth dragon nearly stepped on them and let out a shout, almost falling over, trying to avoid them. Before he could take another step, Wither shifted Renna and himself three feet out of the way. "Sorry! Sorry about that!"

The earth dragon just stared at Wither wide-eyed for a moment and bowed his head. "No no, my apologies, Master Wither. I should have been more careful." He then righted himself and hurried away.

Wither and Renna gave each other faces asking each other what had just happened. "That wasn't weird at all," said Renna.

"_Master_ Wither? I'm hardly a _master_. Apparently, the only thing I'm a master of is naivety. If any of the real masters heard that, they'd be insulted."

Renna nodded and said, "Yeah. I mean, I know we're both going to be masters when we grow up. It's a given since we're the only ones in our generation of our elements, but still it's a little early to be attaching honorifics to our names."

"But Wither already boasts the power of a master. Not to mention who his parents are."

Renna turned around and came nose to nose with her father. Letting out a squeal, she released Wither's tail and tucked hers tightly between her legs. "Hi daddy!" She smiled upward nervously. "I didn't see you there."

Mesa turned to Wither and asked, "Her eyesight's not very good is it?" Wither slowly shook his head from side to side. Letting out a deep, booming laugh, Mesa curled his tail around Wither and gave him a friendly squeeze. "It's good to see you, boy. So tell me, what brings you two out here?"

"Me, sir," said Wither carefully.

"That's Mister Sir to you, boy." Wither gulped at Mesa's response before the giant let out a deafening peal of laughter that turned the heads of many workers building the trenches. "I joke, of course. You don't have to be so uptight, boy. My name is Mesa. Use it. My friends do. Or are you not my friend?" Before Wither could utter a response, Mesa let out another round of laughter and pounded the earth with his tail, sending a cloud of dirt skyward. Once he settled down, he said, "Of course you are! Don't look so stricken, boy. You're pale enough as it is. If those scales of yours grow any duller, my daughter might not want to hold tails with you again."

"Daddy!" Appalled by his statement, Renna began beating one of his legs with all her might.

Mesa hummed with amusement and continued. "I was only joking." Holding a paw up so only Wither could hear, he said, "She's not that superficial."

"What in the wide, _wide_ world is going on over here?"

Mesa turned around and held his emerald tail spade up to his face. As Glacianne marched toward them, he said, "Hold your ground. She's more curious than angry."

When the ice dragoness reached them, she swat Mesa's tail and said, "Put that thing away. Quit trying to read me. What are you doing over here? We're supposed to be—" When Wither and Renna caught Glacianne's eye, she immediately switched gears, holding her forepaws tighter together and raising herself up. "My my, if it isn't my dearest darling and her darling little friend. Hello, Wither, Renna. What brings you two out here?"

"That would be me, ma'am," said Wither.

Glacianne puffed up as Wither addressed her and beamed down at him cheerfully. "Why ever would a youngling such as yourself want to visit the perimeter on your one day off?"

"We were bored and I figured we could help."

Clapping her paws together, Glacianne gasped. "Ah! Such a little gentleman! Only twelve years old and wanting to help his elders on his day off. Well, far be it from me to deny you the work, but that's hardly my decision, dearie. The masters are the ones in charge of the perimeter construction. You should talk to them."

"Okay," said Wither with a bow. "It was nice meeting you again. You, too, Mesa."

They both waved them on as Renna followed Wither from close behind. Wither watched as the trenches were built. They now stretched nearly four fifths the way around Warfang. Another three days at the pace they were going and the perimeter would be finished. After several moments of watching the trenches, Wither bumped into something and fell back on his haunches. Immediately, a dragon shouted at him. "Hey, watch it there! Oh, Wither. It's you."

Terrador stared down at Wither as he sat, observing the work in the trenches. Wither waved up at him and said, "Sorry, Master Terrador. I wasn't looking where I was going. I was too busy watching the trenches. They're looking good."

"That they are," said Terrador as he turned back to supervise his fellow earth dragons. "I just wish there was a quicker way to dig them. This work has been as slow as it has been arduous. By the time everyone's done building the defenses, they'll be too tired to man them."

"Maybe I could help you there," said Wither. "I could use my nothing to erase the dirt from existence."

Terrador shook his head at the youngling's idea of help. "I appreciate the thought, but we need the dirt so we can compact it into super-dense spikes for another layer of defense."

Wither looked out toward the earth dragons who were compacting the earth with their magic and plunging the spent soil from the trenches into the ground to form a thick wall of massive thorns. "Then I have another way to help them."

Before Terrador could inquire what it was Wither had in mind, the youngling wrapped himself in a field of invisible nothing and floated out over the excavation grounds. Everyone working on the trenches stopped what they were doing and watched in awe as Wither hung in the air without the aid of his wings. He then concentrated on the earth below, wrapping his nothing around the area that needed to be dug up. Raising his head, the earth began to lift itself out of the ground. Several tons came sifting upward at a time to spite gravity. Hundreds of dragons all around watched open mouthed as Wither effortlessly did the work of dozens in seconds what would have taken hours. All of the earth dragons that had been busy digging the trench now concentrated on making and positioning the defensive spikes. As they went, Wither glided slowly along his path, pulling up more and more dirt and setting it down next to the trench for the earth dragons to work on.

Terrador watched wordlessly as Wither took up the task by himself. "That youngling will do great things."

"Yeah, he will," said Renna in a hushed tone. "He's amazing."

By the end of the day, Wither had finished the deep trench that the ice dragons would need to ice over. The shallow one that the poison dragons were filling with a noxious moat was still incomplete, but it was coming along much faster now that there were more earth dragons to reallocate to take on the job. When Wither set the last of the soil from the innermost trench down, he touched down and wobbled forward. Renna was there to give him the support to stand straight, giving him many praises as she did so.

"Wither, that was incredible. You just saved everyone a bunch of work. That was really helpful of you."

Lifting a wing halfway, Wither said, "Just doing my part. I did my part to create this war, so it's only right that I do my best to make sure everyone is safe. I am ready for some rest, though. I need to lie down. Care to accompany me back home?"

However, before Renna could respond, a crowd of dragons met Wither as he was walking back. All of them applauded him on his accomplishment. Everyone involved in the construction of the defenses around Warfang nodded to him in gratitude and thanked him sincerely for his help. By the time Terrador was able to push himself to the fore of the group, Wither was starting to feel dizzy.

"Make way, everyone. Make way. Stop crowding him. Can't you see he's tired? Give him some room." Terrador stopped in front of Wither and Renna and held out a paw. "Thank you, Wither. You've done much to expedite our efforts on the front lines. I'll see to it that Grand Master Yarrow hears of this."

"It was nothing," said Wither with a wave of his paw, nearly falling over after losing his balance.

"Nonsense. I can tell you're tired. Go home and get some rest. I'm sure you'll need it once you resume your training tomorrow."

Wither groaned at the thought of more training and told Renna he was about to shift. Before he was able to ready himself, he was interrupted once more when Mesa and Glacianne passed through the crowd. Glacianne gingerly raised a paw in the air and asked, "Renna, sweetie? When are you coming home for dinner?"

Renna shrugged and said, "I don't know. Wither was just about to take me to his house so we could wind down together."

Glacianne crinkled her nose ever so slightly and said, "Do be sure to say hello to Spyro and Cynder for me."

"Actually, they're at Yarrow's right now. Or at least, they were several hours ago. I don't know when they were planning on going home."

Wither looked at the sky and said, "The sun's not going down quite yet. They'll be another hour still."

Glacianne tossed her head and hummed, "Mmm, so they're not home? I presumed as much. They must be very busy with matters of the utmost importance being who they are. I'm sorry Renna, but I simply must say no to your visiting with Wither for right now."

"Because?" asked Renna.

"Because I'm your mother and I say so," said Glacianne very matter-of-factly.

"Ugh, I hate that answer. That's not a good reason for anything. It's an excuse. That's pretty much the same thing as saying because I'm your master and I say so."

Glacianne placed a paw on her chest and slowly said, "Now see here, young lady. First of all, that's a perfectly good answer considering your age. Secondly, I hardly need to explain myself to you. If I tell you no, it's because I have my reasons. And last of all, did it ever occur to you that such an answer was meant to shield you from unnecessary embarrassment? Would you like it if I told you exactly why I think it would be wholly inappropriate to allow my daughter to accompany a young boy back to his home alone?"

Renna stared her mother in the face for several long seconds, during which Wither slowly faded away until he was completely invisible. "No. I suddenly and inexplicably understand. Never mind."

"Good," said Glacianne. She then addressed Wither once again allowing the honey back into her voice. "Oh, Wither! You don't have to hide like that. I wasn't accusing you of anything. It's just that you younglings have already gone through the Great Awakening, so that means things start changing and well, let's face it, younglings will be younglings."

"Mom," said Renna as she, too, rendered herself invisible.

"Okay, I think you've said enough now, Glaci," said Mesa, cutting Glacianne's reply off before she could get started again.

"I was just saying that—"

"You were just saying a little too much, again."

Glacianne caught the look in Mesa's eye and conceded, lowering her head and nodding to the ground. "Alright then. Come on, Renna. Let's go home. You can come with us if you want, Wither."

Wither perked up and asked, "Are you sure? I wouldn't want to intrude."

"Nonsense!" said Glacianne. "It's not intruding when you've received an invitation.

Wither turned to give Renna a questioning look who reappeared once the previous conversation had been dropped. She nodded excitedly and leaned forward to say into his ear, "My dad's cooking tonight. I told him about the way meat tastes when it's cooked. He does an _amazing_ job."

"I'm in," said Wither immediately.

"Excellent," said Glacianne as she clapped her paws together. "Shall we then? Our shift is over for the day, so we're free to go."

"I know a shortcut if you're interested," said Wither.

"Back to our home?" asked Glacianne curiously. "However might that be? There's only one decent path back to our house."

Mesa leaned forward and said, "Honey, I think he means to shift us all into our living room from here."

Glacianne's eyes went wide and she immediately flicked her tail back and forth with enthusiasm. "It's not dangerous is it?"

"Nah, I do it a hundred times a day."

"Very well then. I would be delighted to experience such a thing. Renna has told us much about it. She says that it's very surprising and disorienting when you do it. Suddenly being in a completely different place and all that."

Grabbing Renna by the tail with his, Wither turned around and said, "Just walk forward with me."

"Should we all maintain contact with you?"

Looking to Renna for a second, Wither said, "No, that's not really necessary." Just before stepping into the shifting point, Wither noticed a bright flash flare up next to him as he looked away from Renna.

White spots still danced on the floor around Renna's body as the two of them entered the main room of Renna's house. Through the shifting point, Mesa could be heard saying, "Think nothing of it, Glaci. Remember when we were younglings."

"I do remember, Mesa. That's why I'm going to keep an eye on those two." Mesa and Glacianne then popped out of thin air and looked around in amazement as though they had never seen their luxurious living room before. After the initial shock wore off, Glacianne said, "How delightful! Now we don't have to make that dreadful journey home after all that hard work we put in today. Thank you, Wither. You are a bundle of wonders."

"Yeah, you're welcome," said Wither as he let go of Renna's tail and backed away from her a bit.

"So, who's hungry?" asked Mesa as he made his way toward the kitchen.

"I believe we're all ready for a fine meal, dear. Let me know if you need any help in there, okay?"

Mesa gave Glacianne an endearing peck on her forehead and said, "No Glaci, that won't be necessary, but thank you for the offer. You just entertain our guest."

Renna placed a hand to her mouth and spoke into Wither's ear. "Mom cooked our meal once. Once." Wither looked at her and she widened her eyes, shaking her head.

Wither bit his lip to hold in a laugh, but was immediately distracted by Glacianne who froze the center of the basin in which the dragons all sat during meals and conversations. She then began to stroke the spot with the end of her tail, summoning more ice and shaping it with her tail spade. As she used her slow, sweeping strokes on the ice, she said, "Funny, isn't it? How all this water just hangs in the air, and we don't even think about it. Well, no one other than ice dragons think about it anyway."

"What do you mean?" asked Wither curiously.

Glacianne concentrated on her ice with a focused yet amused expression as she continued. "We ice dragons manifest most of the ice we summon by calling all of the water molecules in the air together. While they are in the process of coalescing, we are then able to sap the heat out of the area, thus creating the desired ice."

"Is that how ice dragons work their magic?" asked Wither.

Glacianne looked up from her work long enough to give him a wink and say, "Most certainly. But if a mole ever asks, we just call it magic, okay sweetie?"

Wither cocked his head and asked, "Why be so secretive about it?"

"Because, darling, if the moles were ever to find out _how_ our magic works, then they would most likely be able to find their own way to reproduce the results. Can you imagine the entire mole nation capable of using their own perversion of ice magic using that, what is it, technology of theirs? Moles are dreadfully intelligent, Wither. And experience more curiosity in a day than a dragon does in a lifetime. If they so much as come up with an idea, their relentlessly inquiring minds will find an answer to the questions they seek. The moles may not appear so powerful, but their strength is of a different kind. It is said that the limits of their capabilities are defined solely by the range of their imaginations. If they can so much as think of something, they'll find a way to make it so."

Wither agreed and said, "Yeah, that sounds about right. But why should it matter? The moles are our friends aren't they? Shouldn't we help them with their pursuits?"

Glacianne shook her head at her ice as she continued her work. "You don't know the whole story behind the bond between dragons and moles, do you Wither?"

"Do I?" asked Wither as he looked questioningly to Renna. Renna pointed to her mother and nodded, quietly telling him to listen to what Glacianne had to say.

Glacianne gave a sigh as she worked and shaped the ice before her, beginning the tale. "Long ago, approximately two thousand years ago, Warfang was built by the moles after the signing of a treaty between the two races. It was meant to be a gift, a sign of their good will toward the dragon race. In those days, the moles weren't so severely smart as they are now. They were weak. It was a time of great transition for them. They still were not so advanced in mind as they are today, and they no longer possessed the magic powers they held claim to even further back in time.

"Yes, even further down the timeline, the moles were once the second most powerful magical race. Their knowledge of the workings of magic was so profound, and they were so in tune with nature, that their greatness nearly eclipsed that of the dragons. Fearing an attack from the other race, both sides broke out into all out warfare with one another. The results were grim. The dragon race was decimated, and the moles lost a quarter of their rank."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said Wither. "If the dragon race was decimated, how are we still here?"

Glacianne halted her work long enough to look Wither in the eyes and say, "The literal definition of decimate is to reduce by a tenth. Three thousand years ago, there used to be roughly fifty thousand dragons. About five thousand were lost to the moles during the Magic Wars. However, the moles were even worse off. They were greater in force, numbering in the millions. The records on the war in the library estimate the mole body count by the end of the war around three hundred thousand."

Wither gaped at Glacianne in horror. "We slaughtered them."

"Yes," said Glacianne. "But understand. A mole coupling can produce up to eight young in nine months. It is rare for a dragon clutch to contain more than two eggs, and our entire race can only reproduce during the mating season that comes around every hundred years. The moles lost far less than the dragons by this comparison."

"How did the war possibly end in peace?" asked Wither.

Glacianne etched her ice more carefully as she continued her story, eyeing her work closely. "There came a turning point in the war when a purple dragon was born, the one that came before Malefor. His name was Vesper. Naturally, his skills were unparalleled. The dragon race praised the birth of their greatest weapon and promptly trained him in the art of war. Several years later, he was sent into battle, and he alone defeated the moles' Emperor Mage. It all went downhill from there for the moles. They took the loss of their leader and most powerful sorcerer too hard. Morale plummeted, and they were destroyed. It shames me to say that though they surrendered, the dragon race continued the campaign for several more years, hunting down and slaying every last mole mage. The last of the mages was an incredibly powerful pyromancer named Brim.

"When Brim heard that the dragons were cleansing the mole nation of mages to sterilize them as a threat, he went into hiding and trained for years. It was all he ever did. When a mage trains for years on end with nothing else to do, they become masterful magic wielders. Brim is unanimously regarded as the most powerful pyromancer in history. Using his magical prowess, he crafted a Hellfire Core, the most powerful magical artifact a pyromancer and _only_ a pyromancer can wield. If any other being, even a fire dragon, touches a Hellfire Core, it would incinerate the flesh from their bones. After creating his Hellfire Core, Brim affixed it to the end of his staff and revealed himself. It wasn't long before the dragons came for him, but he defeated everything that was thrown his way. After a dozen dragons had been lost to him, Vesper was finally sent in to quell this final mole mage. Their magics proved too great for them. Evenly matched, they met their ends together.

"After the final battle, Brim's Hellfire Core was taken by the dragon race as a prize for defeating our enemies. It was believed by our kind that it should always remain a treasure of the Purple Dragon as it was won by the Purple Dragon at the cost of his life. Today, it should reside somewhere in Spyro Tower."

Wither stared at the floor in disbelief. "It's in the armory on our eighth floor," he said, barely able to speak.

Nodding with an knowing hum, Glacianne said, "Mmhmm, Renna told me about it after your little slumber party. Anyway, Brim was defeated three thousand years ago. Seeing as Warfang wasn't built until two thousand years ago, that means the moles experienced a thousand-yearlong fall from grace. They went from being nearly the greatest power in Avalar to one of the lowliest, defenseless races of all. It brought them to the brink of extinction. However, they finally realized that if they wanted to survive, they would have to adapt. So, they began to burrow underground. Since then, they've lived in the dark belly of the earth, hiding from the sun and all the creatures that thrive in it.

"Even though they found sanctuary underground, they still had to come up at night to forage for food. They lost many numbers this way. Predators of the night would find them and snatch them up. The primordial state that they had regressed to was sorrowful, even to the dragons. A great guilt spread through our race as we watched from on high as their race dwindled because of our avarice. Eventually, a decision was reached. The Council of Elders concluded that it was our responsibility to act as the official caretakers of the mole race, so that they would not perish due to the transgressions of our ancestors. A meeting was held with the mole chieftains, and a pact was made. The dragons would offer the unconditional support and protection of the mole race in exchange for a glorified nesting ground. Thus, Warfang was built directly over Mjölnir. Our two races have unerringly defended this ground together ever since."

Wither looked from Glacianne to Renna and back again, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. "I always heard that the moles built Warfang over Mjölnir for their benefit."

"They did," nodded Glacianne. "But they were nudged to do so by the dragon race without actually being told to. We made it seem like a trade to hide our shame and to conceal the fact that it was the single greatest act of charity the dragon race has ever demonstrated. We dragons may have gotten this city, but the moles had everything to gain from the 'trade.'"

"I don't believe it," said Wither. "We would never be so cruel to the other races!"

Glacianne gave Wither a hard look and said, "You don't know much about our history, do you? You may have spent a long time in that library, but I promise you I've spent a fair bit more time doing research than you have living. I'm a hundred and thirty-five years old, Wither. I've looked into this extensively.

"The moles weren't the only race to experience the wrath of the dragon race. At one time, the cheetahs were adept magic users as well, but that was short lived. We saw to that as well, just as we did to all others who learned of magic before them. Have you ever wondered why our race still wars so vehemently with the ape nation? They still have a rudimentary understanding of magic. Though this is no longer the reason why we fight them, it is what started the war between us. When dragons first learned of the apes' newfound abilities in the field of magic, we set ourselves upon them just like all of the other races. The only difference between the apes from the other races is the fact that once they deem something a threat, they never let it go. Once our race attacked theirs, we forever marked ourselves as mortal enemies to their kind."

"I had no idea," said Wither.

"Yes," said Glacianne. "We dragons are a proud people, so no one ever likes to talk about it, which eventually leads to very few people even knowing about it, but we are only the greatest nation in Avalar because we have cast all others into the dirt during our rise to the top."

Renna placed a paw on Wither's should and said, "It's not all bad, though. Our kind have learned since then and stopped opposing other races. We only continue to fight the apes because they won't forgive us for what we started."

Wither sat in mild shock, just staring at Glacianne's ice. "If that's so, then why be so secretive about magic with the moles?"

Glacianne continued to work with her ice in silence before finally saying, "We no longer oppose other races, even if they learn the ways of magic once more, but we dare not encourage the growth of magic among other races either. Not after all that's happened before. If they want to learn about magic, they will have to figure it out for themselves."

Wither looked up into Glacianne's face. "You said our kind started wars with other races who learned of magic."

With a grim laugh, Glacianne said, "It was more of a series of massacres than wars with the exception of the moles."

"You never said how the war with the moles started," said Wither. Glacianne didn't reply this time. "We did it, didn't we?" asked Wither. "That's why we don't want them to learn about magic again. We're _afraid_ of them, aren't we?"

Stopping for a moment, Glacianne looked down and said, "No, sweetie. Barely anyone even remembers it anymore. There is no longer any resentment between the moles and the dragons. We wouldn't fear a retribution, but rather a second coming of the Magic Wars."

"So we don't trust them," said Wither.

"It's not that. It's just. . ." Glacianne took a moment to compose her thoughts before continuing. "It's just a precaution. We dragons have come to truly value our friendship with the moles. They no longer need our protection as they once did. We still work with them, not as restitution anymore, but due to a sense of camaraderie. It's something we don't want to lose. And the reintroduction of magic to their race could potentially upset the balance that our two races have maintained for two thousand years."

Glacianne gave a final sweep with her tail and said in an endearing voice, "Oh, isn't that lovely? I've really outdone myself this time, haven't I, Renna?"

Renna nodded and said, "Your best yet, I think."

Wither noticed for the first time that Glacianne had actually been sculpting the ice into a life-sized statue of him. He stared back at himself and couldn't help but lose himself to a smile. "That's really good. Thank you. I don't know what to say."

"Oh, it was my pleasure," said Glacianne. "I did need the practice as well. Icing that trench over all day every day has been a gross use of my power. Ice can be used to create beautiful things as well when you add a little finesse."

At that moment, Mesa walked down the hall and dropped a rather sizable piece of grilled meat in the basin, taking care not to upset Glacianne's sculpture. "It's ready. I've still got to get the rest, but go ahead and dig in everyone."

Wither and Renna started toward the piece of food, but Glacianne held a paw out, blocking Renna from her dinner. "Uh! Hey, I'm hungry."

"Don't be rude," said Glacianne with a sniff. "You know how your father is. Just ignore him and wait for him to return. We shall _not_ be starting without him."

She turned around and watched as Wither stared up at her, his teeth deep in the meat set before him. He slowly opened his mouth and sat back on his haunches, curling his tail around his body. "Sorry. We uh . . . don't exactly wait on each other at my house. I didn't know."

Glacianne just blinked in response before commenting more to herself than anyone else, "I suppose your parents are still a bit young. Perhaps they simply haven't grown into refinement yet."

"What about daddy?" asked Renna.

"What about him?" asked Glacianne in return. "He's an overgrown youngling. I'm afraid that refinement is something that shall forever remain a bit beyond him."

Mesa dropped another piece of meat on the floor and said, "I should hope so. For Renna's sake. Wouldn't want her having two of you for parents."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" asked Glacianne with a paw pressed against her chest.

Mesa raised his tail spade up to view his daughter through it and said, "Raising a child is like forging a sword. You are the oven, and I am the bath. How well might we temper her if we seared her twice and offered no cooling relief?"

Glacianne smoothed down her scales and lowered her eyes. "I suppose you're right."

Mesa pat Glacianne gently on the back before saying, "Eat up everyone or you're going to hurt my feelings."

Renna and Wither immediately tore away their chunks and gnawed on the flesh like rabid animals. Glacianne regarded her daughter with a look of disdain and said, "You're too much like your father young lady. How will you ever make yourself presentable to a male with table manners like that?"

Mesa bumped Glacianne with his tail and twitched his head. She turned around and eyed Wither as he devoured his portion in much the same way as Renna. "You expect too much," said Mesa, which earned him a scowl from Glacianne. However, he gazed at her through his tail spade and gave her a knowing grin. "That frown isn't real."

Glacianne's tough expression cracked, revealing a smile hiding underneath. "You cheater. No fair, using your looking glass."

"Is it cheating when the archer uses his bow and arrows? Or when the chef makes use of a stove? I use the tools given to me as all others do."

Straightening her forelegs, Glacianne locked her knees in place and pouted. "Your wisdom irks me so sometimes, Mesa."

"I thought that's what you first noticed about me," said Mesa. Looking to the ceiling, he said, "I remember you finding it endearing when first we met."

"Curse your memory," said Glacianne.

With a low laugh, Mesa began to eat. Wither looked up from his meal long enough to say, "Thank you for the food, Mesa. This is really good."

"Yeah, thanks daddy," said Renna.

"You're quite welcome," said Mesa.

Easing out of her shell, Glacianne asked, "So, Wither, what do you like to do in your spare time?"

"What's that?" asked Wither with a laugh.

"What's spare ti—oh, I see. Your days are pretty much booked right now aren't they? Well then, what did you do today?"

"Same as I always do. I stayed at the library for most of the day. I introduced Renna to Holly, too."

"Did you? How did that go?"

Renna recounted the tale of her encounter with Holly and her conversation with the ancient in Yarrow's garden.

Mesa and Glacianne looked to one another and glanced down at Renna, the lines of worry apparent on their faces. Mesa peered at Renna through his looking glass once more and said, "Yes, I see what Holly meant. There is definitely a greatness deep within her, down at her very core, but I've always seen that. I don't recognize any hint of danger, but then again, I can only see what lies within, not what is held in one's future as the ancestors can."

Glacianne wrapped her tail around Mesa's and said, "Oh, what are we going to do, Mesa? Our little girl may be in trouble."

"Now now, Glaci. You heard what she said. No matter what happens in the days to come, our daughter should come out alright."

"But Mesa, the ancestors know something. She is in danger."

Seeing the look of dismay plaguing the faces of Renna and her parents, Wither stopped eating for a while. After several moments of deliberation, he suddenly came to a realization. He got up and walked up the steps of the basin and away from the Mesa family. Renna turned around and asked, "Wither, where are you going?"

"Over here, where I can't hurt you."

Mesa and Glacianne watched Wither with intense interest as he summoned a cloud of nothing and reached into it, pulling out his dark crystal. When the cloud disappeared, Wither stared deeply into the crystal. "I made this black crystal on the night that I discovered my power. I drained the energy out of a crystal given to us by the ancestors and replaced it with nothing. It has the power to pull all magic within its range into the Void. When used by a dragon capable of wielding it as a weapon, it can drain more than just magic. It will drain the very life force out of any foe. I have held on to this for several weeks now, but it would mean nothing to me to part with it, if it meant the safety of one of my closest friends."

Wither looked up and said, "The powers of the Void have a sense of loyalty, allowing only one master to control one or both of their two aspects, but Malefor shares his half of the Void's power with four dragons. If Malefor can do that, then certainly I can share, too." Clasping the crystal in both paws, Wither closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out nice and slow. "I, Wither, the Void King, Master of Nothing, command you, my artifact, to protect Renna. May you follow her every word, and safeguard her very life should she find herself unable to wield you. Stay close to her heart, and erase all who threaten her. She is your rightful master now. I release you from my power."

Instantly, Wither felt a shift within the crystal. Looking it over, he saw no difference in its appearance, but he knew better than that. The crystal belonged to Renna now. Wither walked back to the basin and held the crystal out to Renna. "Now, no matter what happens, I will always be watching over you. The ancestors don't have to be the only ones."

Renna breathlessly took the crystal from Wither and held it out. The light failed to shine through it, as the glossy black surface of the crystal reflected all light that hit it. Setting the crystal down, Renna threw her arms around Wither and squeezed him as tightly as she could. "Thank you."

After several long moments, the hug came to an end and Renna picked the crystal back up, giving it to her mother. "Mom, can you have it fitted into a necklace for me?"

"Certainly, dear."

Mesa leaned down to gaze at the crystal as he said, "And I'll make sure the necklace is enchanted so that you and only you can take the necklace off. We'll have it ready for you by tomorrow morning before you leave for training."

Hugging her parents, Renna said, "Thank you mom, daddy."

Wither watched the scene unfold from a distance before Glacianne looked up from her daughter and ushered Wither toward them. "What are you doing way over there you silly boy? Come here."

Wither stepped forward and was promptly pulled into the family embrace.


	27. Chapter 26 Bearing Bad News

Chapter 26- Bearing Bad News

The morning came quickly, as it always did. However, Wylee was ready for it. Throwing his covers off and swinging his body to the side, he placed his feet on the floor and rose to stretch every muscle in his body. Once the pre-morning warm up was complete, he took stock of the nearly empty barracks. Almost everyone else was already up. A few of the elders still snoozed peacefully in their cots, relishing the sunlight that slowly crept across the floor and over their beds in slanted checker boards through the windows.

Wylee then felt a paw rest firmly but gently on his shoulder. He whirled around and brought his hand within less than an inch of his father's neck. Hunter merely stood there, eyeing his son's hand before allowing a tiny smile to peek through his nearly frightened expression. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I thought you knew I was here. Nice reflexes, though. So, now that you're up, care to join me in the yard?"

Wylee adjusted his pants and turned away from his father, saying without looking at him, "No thank you. I'm training with the dragons today."

Hunter leaned forward, resting one knee on the foot of Wylee's cot to get closer, "Are you sure that's okay?"

Wylee brushed Hunter's hand off his shoulder and kneeled down to retrieve his staff and belt from underneath his bed. "Yeah, they said I could train with them any time. So I don't imagine I'll be intruding."

Hunter said nothing as Wylee began to loop his belt around his waist. While Wylee was fumbling with one of the loops in the back, Hunter asked, "Mind if I join you then?"

Wylee finally caught the loop and shoved the belt through. He hooked it in place and began to tie the pouches that contained various tools all around his waist. "Shouldn't you be training with someone here instead of watching me? We have a war to prepare for, you know?"

Hunter watched as Wylee affixed each pouch in a certain order to his belt, checking to make sure the bags were tight enough that nothing would fall out but loose enough that he could reach in and pull anything out at a moment's notice. It unnerved Wylee that his gaze was so analytical, so judgmental. Then again, it could have merely been curious. "I've participated in war before. I know how to handle myself, believe me."

"It's been twenty years since your last fight. You're just as rusty as everyone else," said Wylee as he cinched another bag after briefly checking the contents.

"But that doesn't mean I'm no good. I've still got plenty of skills. Granted, you may have inherited more than I did from my father, but I have something you don't. Experience. Be it twenty years ago or yesterday, that counts for something."

"Yeah."

Hunter placed his hands on his hips, finally asking his real question. "Why have you been avoiding me lately?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Wylee. You've been going out of your way to ignore me lately. When I try to talk to you all I get is the bare minimum and an excuse as to why you need to be off somewhere. You didn't talk to me all day after Yarrow healed us and then you left all day yesterday."

"My friends showed me around Warfang."

"You didn't come back until midnight."

Wylee looked up, into his father's eyes. When Hunter tried to move forward, Wylee leaned down and grabbed the sheath for his staff. As he began to tie it in place on his back he said, "I didn't know you were awake."

"More like you didn't think I would be awake. Is that why you chose to come back so late? Wylee, what have I done to displease you?"

Wylee held his head down in concentration and tied the straps in place to keep the sheath firmly in place on his back. "I was at the library doing some research. I got caught up in my studies and lost track of time. That's the honest truth."

Hunter nodded and said, "That checks out. I can believe it. But that still doesn't explain your behavior. You're my son, and I know when you're upset. Something's bothering you. You can't hide it from me."

Wylee slid his staff in place, straightened up, and gave his father a tiny salute. "I'm off. See you whenever."

Wylee made for the door, but Hunter quickly slid in front of it, blocking the exit. "You didn't answer me."

Wylee pushed on Hunter's side to move him. "You're in my way. Come on, by this time, they'll have already started."

"They can wait," said Hunter as he leaned back against the door and held his ground. Pointing his finger at Wylee, Hunter said, "You may be the village Upsilon, but I'm still your father. You have to listen to me and do as I say until you're of age. Now I want some answers."

Before Hunter had time to react, Wylee sideswiped his father, smashing him in the face with the base of his left palm. As Hunter stumbled, Wylee grabbed him by the left arm and right leg and pulled his entire body up into the air, flipped him over, and cast him into the floor with all his might. The impact knocked the air out of Hunter's lungs and dislocated his left leg. As he lay sputtering on the floor, trying to breathe, Wylee leaned down and said, "I don't have to listen to anything you tell me. The things you say don't matter nearly as much as the things you don't say."

Wylee pulled the door open and walked out of the barracks, leaving his father breathing heavily on the floor. As Wylee left the barracks, another young cheetah ran up to him. When she saw the look on his face she stopped. "Wylee, is everything all right? Everyone heard a loud crash inside."

Wylee kept walking, ignoring the question. He waved at her over his shoulder and said, "Have a nice day, Brook."

Brook watched him walk away for several seconds before turning back around and making her way toward the barracks. When she opened the door the sight she beheld startled her into emitting a tiny gasp. She kneeled down, running her fingers through Hunter's fur, pressing gently on his muscles and exploring his joints as her hands made their journey through the affected area. "Hunter, are you okay? What happened?"

With a pained grunt, Hunter pulled himself into a sitting position against the wall. "Oh, hello Brook. Just a little domestic dispute. Can I ask you a favor?"

"Anything," said Brook.

"Can you pop my leg back in place?"

XXX

Everyone crowded around Renna in the arena. "Wow, it's gorgeous!" said Elleca. "I wish he'd give me something like that."

Renna held her new crystal against her chest and said, "He didn't just give it to me for the sake of giving me a present. It's for protection. But yes, it is beautiful, isn't it?"

Psy tapped the black gem with an exploratory claw and said, "So . . . does this mean you can do what Wither does now?"

"To a lesser extent, but yes. I have partial control over nothing now. Wither has the whole Void at his disposal, and all I have to work with is this one crystal, but it's still really powerful from what he told me."

"You're very lucky," said Roxy as he gazed into the crystal. "So what all can you do with it?"

"Hmm, I guess you'll all find out when we spar, won't you?" said Renna.

"Psh, you're terrible at sparring," said Elleca. "You don't do anything."

Renna swished her tail around her body and lowered her head. "I just don't want to hurt anyone." Then she raised her head and twirled a claw around her crystal. "But with this, I won't have to. It's not light magic, it's nothing. It's a lot easier to control nothing than the volatile light magic I've had to deal with before."

"Yeah, from what Wither says," said Elleca with a grin. "But he's had lots of practice with it."

Renna flicked her tail slowly and said with a hint of confidence, "I've already had a little practice with it myself. I couldn't resist testing it out last night. I think you'll find it's most effective."

At that moment, Wither shifted between Renna and Elleca with his parents. Everyone backed up to make room for the new arrivals. Spyro and Cynder looked around before spying Renna and turned to face her. Cynder curled her tail around Renna's frame and drew her in. She eyed the crystal at her breast along with Spyro gazing at it from over his wife's shoulder. Cynder raised an eyebrow at Renna and said, "So it's true. He did give it to you. I wouldn't have thought so, seeing as it's the key to using his Hypoactive powers."

Wither shifted to the edge of the arena where the after sparring crystals were kept and selected a green one that fit neatly in his paw. He then shifted back and said, "The crystal can be replaced. I told you that. It was nothing for me to relinquish it. Technically speaking, I didn't give anything away. These black crystals are nothing trapped in a physical form." Wither drained the color and thus the magic encased in the gem and allowed dark nothingness to flow through it. When it was completely converted, he tossed it behind him and caught it in a cloud.

Spyro turned from Wither back to Renna. "I'm not certain if we should allow you to use the crystal during your training. The powers it offers are not your innate abilities. If you were ever to find yourself without it, then you could be without a crutch that we allowed you to lean on."

Renna pressed her forelegs together and inclined her head pleadingly. "Please! My mom made this necklace herself, so it's really strong. It'll never break and fall off. And my dad cast a powerful spell on it so that it won't accidentally fall off or get taken off by anyone but me." Renna caressed the crystal gently with a paw and said, "There's no way I'm taking it off either. I can't even think of a reason to. It's best if I keep it on at all times. I'll even wear it to bed."

Cynder traded glances with Spyro. "Huh. Really? Well then, I suppose if you promise to never take it off until the war is over, then we can allow you to use it during training, but no relying on it for everything. You still need to focus on your own magical properties. You're still not allowed to spar with your friends until we finish your special training regimen. With all the distractions we've had to deal with, we haven't even gotten around to starting it yet."

"What's that about a special training regimen?" asked Elleca, flicking Renna under the chin with the tiny whips at the end of her tail. "Do you mean a special training regimen or a _special_ training regimen?"

A low rumble escaped Renna's throat as Elleca pried into the conversation, but Cynder used her tail to pull Renna away from Elleca and said, "Renna will be training separate from the rest of you until she learns how to control her element better. _You_ are to focus on your training and not allow yourself to become distracted by Renna's training. All right, Renna. You come with me. Spyro, you take care of everyone else."

Spyro saluted Cynder and turned to face the rest of the class. "Let us begin. Since it's been three days since our last training session, I think it would be best if we worked on our physical training again."

Wither pitched his head back and yelled an overextended 'no' to the sky.

Psy placed a paw on Wither's shoulder and let out a long sigh. "Ah, physical training. I remember it well. Spyro, might I request a pairing with my last partner?"

Spyro tapped Wither on the snout and shushed him before turning to Psy. "No, Psy. While I admire your enthusiasm, I didn't appreciate the marks you left on Wither last time."

"Merciful ancestors! Thank you," said Wither again.

"Hey, shut up. I'm teaching over here," said Cynder from the other side of the arena.

Wither sucked his lips in before looking up and waiting for his father to continue. After a moment to shake his head, Spyro said, "Psy, I don't know who to pair you with. I'm sticking Wither with Tera and Sora with Vera. Elleca and Roxy will go well together, which leaves just you. Hmm, separating Renna from the rest of you makes for an odd number. What to do?"

"Maybe I can help."

Everyone turned to the stands to see Wylee hunched over, watching everyone with his head resting on his hands. "Geez, how does he do that?" asked Roxy.

Wylee stood and flipped himself over the railing, landing smoothly in the arena. "I thought I'd train with you ladies and gents today. If that's okay."

"By all means," said Spyro gratefully. "You've proven yourself to be a formidable opponent, and we need the extra man. Psy will be your partner for the day, Wylee."

"A shadow dragon," said Wylee. "Your kind fascinates me especially. I've always wondered how darkness can be controlled, seeing as it is merely an absence of light."

"What are you talking about?" asked Psy.

"Oh nothing," said Wylee as he unsheathed his staff. "Just some scientific stuff. As a magic wielder, I wouldn't expect you to be concerned with such things."

"Are you implying that I don't understand how my own element works? Of course darkness is the absence of light. We shadow dragons—"

"Ah ah ah! That's enough out of you, Psy. You know the rules about sharing dragon magic secrets to other races."

Wylee blinked as Spyro cut Psy off before he could begin his explanation. A long moment of awkward silence followed as Wylee and Spyro stared at each other. Eventually Wylee turned away and said, "Sorry I asked."

Wither glanced at his dad and said, "So it's true. We do keep secrets."

Spyro turned his attention to Wither. "What was that?"

"Nothing," said Wither.

Spyro eyed his son for a while longer before turning his attention back to Wylee. "Anyway, you may use your tools to aid in your efforts against Psy. Are you ready to begin?"

"Wy Lee!"

All heads turned toward the sounds of shouting. This time the disturbance came from a young cheetah girl who looked to be Wylee's age. She marched through one of the arena entrances and strode across the battlegrounds with a fierce determination that immediately set Wylee on edge.

As everyone watched the lithe cheetah girl with a sizzling heat in her eyes approach, Wylee watched as she advanced. "Brook? What are you doing he—"

Though he saw it coming, Wylee didn't even bother dodging the slap she delivered to his cheek with a harsh, echoing smack. "What is _wrong_ with you? Beating up your own father? You ought to be ashamed of yourself. What do you have to say?"

"I, uh,"

Brook punched Wylee in the chest and said, "Do you feel big beating up an old man or something? He's in his forties, you know? He can't handle heavy hits like that. Not anymore. Do you know you dislocated his leg? I had to pop it back in place for him, and he still can't walk right. You really messed him up."

Wylee finally gathered a bit of confidence and straightened up a bit. "Brook, you don't know the whole story. My father—"

"I don't care!" Wylee's conviction was shattered as Brook strong-armed him in the chest again. "There is never any good excuse to attack your own father like that. He helped bring you into this world. You owe your life to him. Is this how you plan on repaying him?"

"Brook—"

"And what's worse, you're our Upsilon! Everyone, _everyone_ looks up to you. Then you go and do something like this. Do you think it's okay to teach the village cubs that its perfectly acceptable to beat up your elders so long as you have a _good_ _reason_?"

Wylee opened his mouth, but was immediately cut off before he could make a single utterance. "No! I am not done talking. Do you know what I had to do today? I had to lie to some of the children when they asked why Hunter is limping. You made me lie! To children!"

"I didn't ask you to do that."

"What was I supposed to do? Tell them the truth? That their Upsilon beat up his father? As if I would even dream of it. You messed up today, Wylee. What do you have to say for yourself?"

With a booming voice that filled every corner of the arena, Wylee yelled in Brook's face. "Can I actually speak now?"

Brook looked at Wylee for several seconds and started to cry. Taken aback, Wylee reached out a hand and said, "Brook, wait."

"No!" said Brook as she turned and ran back toward the entrance to the arena. She ran so fast, she appeared as nothing more than a gray blur as she sped out of the arena and past Hunter.

Shuffling forward, Hunter stared Wylee down as he slowly made his way toward his son.

Wylee turned to the dragons who merely stood in place and watched as everything unfolded. "Perhaps today isn't the best time. There's a lot going on right now. I think I'm turning out to be more of a distraction than anything. I should really get going."

"You hold it right there, Wy." said Hunter. "I still didn't get my answer from you. Why have you been ignoring me?"

"Why did you follow me here?" asked Wylee with as much venom as he could muster. "I told you I was going to be busy. You're holding up the dragons' training."

"That's no fault of mine. I wanted to talk to you alone. You're the one who ran out on me and came here. You decided to make this public. I don't care who hears our conversation. I want some answers. Why have you been ignoring me lately?"

Hunter leaned heavily on a wooden staff meant for sparring and battle, huffing as though the question had taken all of his breath. Wylee stood quietly, fuming at his father, but Hunter stood his ground and waited for him to speak. After an agonizing moment of silence, Wylee took a breath and said, "You really want to know? You _really_ don't care who hears our conversation? Fine then. Do you remember when everyone fell sick?"

Wither looked across the arena to Renna, catching her eye. She and Cynder had also stopped what they were doing and were watching Hunter and Wylee.

"Yeah, what about it?" said Hunter, visibly relaxing.

Wylee took several deep breaths, steeling himself to continue. "Everyone was dying. Among other debilitating symptoms, those infected were suffering from a profoundly high fever. Under such harsh conditions, people are prone to hallucinations. Some fever dreams of the deathly ill are even intense enough to make an individual relive memories."

Hunter shifted uncomfortably but said nothing.

"Some memories come back randomly, memories of no real consequence. But sometimes some of the things likely to surface are the things we've tried hardest to bury, things that have remained long hidden."

Hunter's stomach rose into his throat as he realized what Wylee was getting at.

Gathering himself, Wylee pushed forward with ever more power in his voice. "And when you're in such a condition, you've lost yourself to the fever. You have no control over your actions. The shadows of the past are so vivid, you're quite likely to start talking in your sleep."

Hunter reached toward his son and said, "Wylee, whatever you heard, remember, I _wasn't_ myself. It was most likely utter nonsense."

"No! It fits! The things you said—there's no doubt in my mind they were memories. Don't you dare lie to me. The silence, I've tolerated, but lies—if you lie to me—I swear—"

Wylee swallowed audibly, gasping for air. After another moment to regain himself, he pressed onward. "I heard a conversation you had with mom. You talked about how I was—different. How no one would accept me in the village. Mom wanted me to have friends, but you said you wouldn't be able to hide the fact that I'm—that I'm a crime against nature!"

Suddenly, Hunter aged twenty years. He looked exhausted. The expression on his face was one of both defeat and regret. Lowering his head, he said, "I am sorry."

Wylee glowered at his father.

Finally, Hunter raised his head and stared Wylee in the eyes. Years of sorrow answered the rage in Wylee's eyes. They were undeniably apologetic and filled with love. It was all Wylee could do to continue to stare his father down with stern disapproval.

Hunter let go of his staff and allowed it to fall to the ground with a clatter. Step by step, he hobbled toward Wylee. He stopped just before his son and looked him up and down. "You are my pride and joy. Everything I do, I do for you. Everything I've never told you, I've kept secret for you. I have wanted nothing but a good life for you, a life better than the one I was given. That's what being a parent is. A good father—or mother—wants for their young to do better than they did in life. That's why in never told you that—" Hunter turned in a circle and looked all around the arena before facing Wylee again. Pointing a finger at his son, Hunter said, "You're a hybrid."

Wylee stood in place looking at his father in confusion. His head felt dizzy and the world was spinning around him. Slowly, his eyes widened with disbelief. "What? I'm—a hybrid? No. You, you committed the interspecies taboo. It all makes sense now."

Hunter closed his eyes in grief and shuddered through his tears. "You inherited the physical attributes of my people, but you're only half cheetah."

Wylee fell to his knees. He stared down at his hands, contemplating what other blood pumped through his veins. "I'm a hybrid," he said. The words felt real as they left his mouth, like he could reach up and snatch them out of the air and smother them. "All hybrids are outcasts, unfit to be a part of any cheetah tribe. My blood is tainted."

"Once your mother ran out on us, I was free to take you back to my village. No one can tell you're a hybrid by looking at you, but your mother would have given it away in an instant."

Wylee looked up at Hunter with a questioning gaze. "Why? Why did you break the taboo? You're an outcast, too."

Hunter turned his head to the side and said, "We're only outcasts if we reveal ourselves. This is our secret. This is _our_ secret. No one else can know."

"But _why_? Why would you do it?"

Hunter laced his arms around his chest as though he was cold and said, "I wouldn't expect you to understand. You've never been in love. We can't control who we fall in love with, Wylee. I knew when it was happening that it was wrong, but it felt so right. I couldn't help myself. I couldn't deny myself the happiness of being with the woman I loved."

Wylee stood and stared at the ground for a long time. All he could think to say is, "So that's why my name is so strange. I should have known. Wy Lee isn't a traditional cheetah name."

Hunter ran a hand slowly through the fur on his face, nodding in agreement. "Lee is. But Wy is a name more suited to one of your mother's race."

Wylee raised his head and looked Hunter in the eyes again. He stepped forward and embraced his father and began to cry into his shoulder.

Hunter held him and rubbed his back. "I didn't want to tell you until you were older, but you are sixteen. I suppose that's old enough. We're in this together now. My silence must become yours as well." Wylee pulled away from his father and wiped his face with his shirt.

"How do you feel?" asked Hunter.

"I don't know."

"I know you need time to let it sink in," said Hunter, "just remember, if you need to talk about it, I'm here for you. We just have to be careful when we do." Hunter turned to the rest of the crowd and said, "I plead for your silence on this matter as well, my friends. The interspecies taboo is a cheetah affair and does not concern you. An idle comment from either of you to one of my people will ruin our lives."

"On behalf of everyone here, you have my word," said Spyro.

"Thank you, old friend." With that, Hunter limped to his staff and, with Wylee's help, shuffled out of the arena.

After they left Spyro and Cynder got back to work. Psy joined Roxy and Elleca in a free for all, and for the rest of the day, everyone with the exception of Renna concentrated on physical combat, taking tips and practicing new moves as Spyro observed and commented. Cynder worked with Renna, explaining the best ways to go about controlling the flow of one's magical powers. She then focused on the areas Renna had trouble in and had her practice them over and over again.

That night as Wither settled down between his parents, he finally spoke of the day's events. "Mom, dad, why don't the cheetahs let their kind be with people from other races?"

Spyro traced a claw over one of the golden swirls in the marble floor and said, "I don't know, Wither. But it's not our place to question their ways."

"It doesn't make any sense, though. If a cheetah falls in love with someone who's not a cheetah, why shouldn't they be allowed to be together? What's wrong with that?"

Cynder stroked Wither's tail with her paw and spread a wing over his body. "Sometimes, when people believe something strongly enough, even if it's something completely ridiculous, they are blind to what others would consider the obvious truth. And when something is believed for hundreds, even thousands of years, it becomes a culture's unquestionable tradition. When these arcane traditions are held with such conviction, a people cannot hope to progress. But you want to know what I think? I think someday the cheetahs will see that love is blind. It has no rules. It cannot be bound by laws. And love is such a pure thing. Everyone can love anyone, and there's nothing wrong with that."

"That's what I think," said Wither.

"Good," said Cynder with a nod of approval. "That's what we've taught you."

XXX

As Wylee helped Hunter back across the training yard and into the barracks, the rest of the cheetahs sparring fell oddly silent. A group of children who had been listening to a story Brook was telling them started asking what happened next, their voices the only noticeable sound. Wylee tried to catch Brook's eye, but she hushed the children and told them that she would have to finish the story later.

Wylee closed the door to the barracks and helped his father to his cot. As Wylee sat him down, the door opened and closed behind him. Wylee turned around and watched as Brook made her way forward. "Brook, hey. I wanted to talk to you."

Brook brushed past Wylee and helped Hunter into a more comfortable position. "Here, let me get you a tonic for the pain. I mixed it for you while you were away."

"Honestly, Brook. I'm fine. You don't need to make such a fuss over me."

"Nonsense. Someone has to, and my mother is busy practicing her archery."

Hunter raised his hands in the air and said, "It's dark times indeed when a healer has to make certain her aim is deadly."

Brook rose to look at Hunter after gathering a glass from under his cot. "Now I can't promise this is going to taste very good, but I added some blueberries and mint to the mix to make it tolerable."

Holding the back of Hunter's head, Brook poured the concoction into his mouth. When the bottle was empty, Hunter wiped his mouth and cocked his head sideways for a moment. "Eh, not bad actually. You did a good job on it."

"Thank you. I'll keep that in mind. I'll have to tell mother that blueberries and mint keep it down much easier."

Hunter took Brook's hand and gently pulled her back down. She gave him a questioning gaze and waited patiently for him to speak.

"Brook, don't be angry with my son. I know you believe very firmly that nothing but respect is due to your elders, but believe me when I say that I did something to Wylee that deserved far more than what I got in return. He let me off easy, and for that, I am very grateful. I wish you would forgive him."

Brook opened her mouth slightly and made a little noise. "What did you—no. That's none of my business. I'm sorry for prying."

"That's quite alright," said Hunter, giving her a reassuring smile to let her know he meant it. "You will let this go, won't you? You're such a sweet girl, and I'd hate to see a rift form between Wylee and his best friend."

With a loud sigh, Brook crossed her arms and glared at Wylee. "Yeah, I _guess_ so. I suppose I was going to anyway. But don't think that means I approve of what you did. I still think you owe your dad an apology."

Wylee made his way over to his father once again and stared down at him. Then, shaking his head, he said, "Nah, he doesn't deserve it."

Hunter let out a laugh as Brook started fuming, but before she could smack Wylee, Hunter grabbed her hand again and assured her that Wylee was kidding.

"Really, though. I am sorry, dad."

Hunter stopped laughing and looked at Wylee seriously. "Thank you, Wylee. That means a lot. If you can forgive me after that, then you're a bigger man than I."

"Hey, it's like you said, we're in this together now. We're not just father and son. We're kind of like brothers now, if you think about it."

Hunter nodded in understanding and glanced at Brook. "Alright, we're confusing Brook. Let's just leave it at that, shall we?"

"Yes, of course," said Wylee.

XXX

The next day, Wither awoke to the telltale sound of flittering. Wither cracked his eyes open and said, "Back again, eh Sparx? And you forgot to knock. Again."

Sparx ceased the incessant fluttering of his wings and sat down on the floor in front of the Spyro family.

Spyro yawned and opened his eyes. After a couple seconds, he straightened up and said, "Sparx, what's wrong? Tell us what happened."

Cynder sat up as well, opening her eyes to stare at Sparx with an expression that Wither couldn't read. She was either annoyed or worried or both. "What's the word little guy? Did you deliver the invitation for sanctuary in Warfang to our allies?"

Sparx sat motionless on the floor and stared at a tiny swirl in the marble. "Sparx, say something," said Spyro.

Sparx looked up into Spyro's eyes with a hollow expression and said, "They're dead."

"What?" Spyro leaned forward to make sure he'd heard right.

"I was there," said Sparx. "At first, they didn't believe me. The Atlawa thought they were safe in the Tall Plains, but then a dragon in black armor leading a grublin army came and killed them all. None of them survived. He spared no one."

Spyro rose to his feet and looked down at his family. "Cynder, we have to tell Yarrow. Wither, we need you to take us to him immediately."

Sparx glanced halfheartedly at Wither and said, "Why do you expect him to take you there? Isn't it a five minute flight from here?"

Spyro used a claw to scoop Sparx up and placed him on top of his head. "I guess you've been so busy being Warfang's message runner you haven't been around to witness Wither's power. Just hold on."

Wither stepped forward and disappeared, leaving Spyro and Cynder to follow. When they materialized in Yarrow's garden, Sparx looked around furtively and peered down at Wither. "Did you do that? Wow, you inherited some serious stuff didn't you? It figures. With an uncle like me, how couldn't you be awesome."

"You're not even Spyro's blood brother," said Cynder.

The chatter between the Spyro family attracted the attention of Yarrow, who was still replanting his garden and willing more life to grow. He turned around and gave them all a nod of recognition. "Hello everyone. It's a little early for all of you to be up, isn't it? Oh, I see Sparx has returned. So tell me, are our allies on their way?"

"No, they're dead," said Spyro.

Yarrow craned his head back and stared at Spyro. "How?"

"Sparx says one of the children Malefor has enlisted stormed the Tall Plains with a grublin army and killed every last soul."

Yarrow curled his tail around his body and stroked his chin with his tail spade. "That is most grievous news indeed. But why would Malefor try to attack Tall Plains so soon? It would make for an outstandingly defensive base, but other than that there's no terribly important reason to take it so early in the war. What is he planning?"

"I don't know, but I'm surprised he ordered his general to kill everyone. Malefor at least used to make conquered forces his slaves. He's showing no mercy this time." Spyro rolled his eyes back and addressed his brother. "Sparx, did you get a good look at the dragon in black armor? What did he look like?"

"He looked like a youngling, but he was big for one, and green."

"Obsidius," said Yarrow. The named passed his lips slowly as if he was tasting it, before he spat the end of it out. "His crimes are stacking up too high. Wiping out the entire Atlawa tribe? Such actions are unforgivable. I'm afraid that he is beyond redemption."

Cynder shifted her weight to another leg and said, "I know what Obsidius did is horrifying, but let's not be too hasty. We all know that his ability to think for himself has always been a little, eh. Malefor is controlling him. Let's not forget that someone else who was controlled by Malefor and responsible for killing thousands was forgiven."

Yarrow patted Cynder on the shoulder and said, "What Malefor forced you into was most regrettable. But it has long been accepted as fact that you were not in control of your own actions. Malefor was using his magic to control you like a puppet. That is the only reason why you were forgiven. Your actions during the last war were not really your own. Obsidius and the rest of his friends chose to side with Malefor and do his bidding. I've made my decision. I'm revoking Obsidius' option to return to Warfang. As of this moment, he is an exile."

Spyro and Cynder nodded in grim understanding as Wither's body gave an involuntary shiver at the thought of an entire people going extinct in a single day. "So there are no more llamas?"

Yarrow closed his eyes in thought and said, "The Atlawa did not make up the whole llama race, but they were the largest tribe. Llamas are not extinct, but the Atlawa are."

"That's horrible," said Wither.

"It really was," said Sparx. "I saw everything. Spyro, you remember Kane? The chief? He was the last to go. He had to watch the slaughter of his whole people before he died."

"Just—please. Stop. I've heard enough."

Everyone tried to push the mental images away, but the sound of flapping interrupted their thoughts. Terrador cleared the roof of the house and touched down next to everyone. "Yarrow, I bring terrible news."

Two tiny figures jumped down from Terrador's back and made their way toward Yarrow, bowing to the Grand High Elder. "You are ze leader of ze dragon race, no?"

"I am. And who might you be?"

Spyro leaned down and inspected the new arrivals with a look of disbelief. "Mole-Yair? Exhumor? Is that you?"

Both of the manweersmalls turned to the Purple Dragon in surprise. Mole-Yair stepped forward and said, "Oh, Spyro. It's 'orrible. A young dragon in black armor attacked Munitions Forge. 'E was leading an army of apes. As far as we can tell, my brother and I are the only survivors. We barely escaped with our lives."

"No." Spyro's horror at this new revelation whispered its way between his teeth as Exhumor brought his brother in for a tight hug and allowed him to weep freely into his shoulder.

Exhumor raised his head to regard Spyro with a rare look of pity. "My brother has taken the loss hard. It was all I could do to pull him away from the attackers. He would have perished, too, had I not been there."

"When did this happen?" said Yarrow.

Exhumor raised his head to wince up at Yarrow from his feet. "We have been on the run nonstop since the attack. It has been four days since we fled our home."

Yarrow's scales bristled, though to his credit he otherwise remained outwardly calm. "I'm sorry to hear about your loss. You have my sympathies. However, I must ask you one more question. Did you get a good look at the dragon who was leading the apes?"

Exhumor said in his overly gruff voice, "No, the attackers came from far away. My brother and I were lucky enough to be watching the carnage from a distant observation platform. We went unnoticed."

Mole-Yair managed to remove himself from his brother. "But we do know that the dragon was an extremely powerful fire dragon."

"So it was Arragor," said Yarrow. "It's good you two came to Warfang. There's another war brewing, and Malefor is back with a vengeance. We were going to send word to Munitions Forge soon, but it appears that we're already too late for that. I'm terribly sorry. You are free to stay with us here."

"Thank you for your hospitality," said Exhumor with another bow, "but my brother and I will stay with the rest of the moles down in Mjölnir. It has been so long since a manweersmall mole has visited our belovéd capital. I am anxious for us to take this opportunity to get back to our roots. There has to be a silver lining somewhere, and I believe that ours can be found under Warfang. We just felt that we needed to give you the details regarding the downfall of Munitions Forge."

"Thank you for the information," said Yarrow. "You are more than welcome in Warfang if ever you feel the need to take a break from Mjölnir, though I think you may have a hard time growing bored with yourselves down there. It's a rather interesting place to say the least."

Both moles bowed to Yarrow and turned about, glancing at the partially reconstructed garden. After a moment of watching them scratch their heads, Yarrow said, "Warfang is a big city, but there are hundreds of access points leading to and from Mjölnir. You can find one of them if you can find a mole. I'm certain that they'll grant you some assistance in reaching Mjölnir."

"Right," said Exhumor as he started toward one of the cardinal exits from Yarrow's garden. Everyone present watched them go until the clearing of Terrador's throat caught their attention once more.

"Yarrow, I bring you some good news as well."

Yarrow sat down on his haunches and wiped his forehead with a weary paw. "Good. We need some of that."

Terrador straightened and spoke. "The inner trench and its constituent barrier of compressed earth spikes is now complete and three days ahead of schedule. Our resources have been reallocated to expedite the construction of the outer trench, which is now nearing completion. It should be ready by high sun tomorrow."

"That is most delightful news," said Yarrow. "You're an outstanding supervisor, Terrador. Tell me, what has pushed us so far ahead of schedule?"

Terrador glanced down between Spyro and Cynder before continuing his explanation. "We actually had a little help yesterday. You wouldn't know it by looking at him, but Wither is probably the best ditch digger in the world."

All eyes rested on Wither now. He curled his tail around his body and fiddled with his tail spade, keeping his eyes firmly planted on a pebble that rested before him. "Wither, you dug the rest of the trench?" asked Yarrow.

Wither looked up into Yarrow's eyes and nodded in response. "It was nothing. I just thought I'd help out. It seems selfish to make dozens of dragons do in three days what you can do in a few hours. I should have been helping out more this whole time."

Yarrow reached down and stroked the dirt before him, using his claws to pinch the dirt together and drawing his paw upward, willing a wildly pink carnation to rise up from seemingly nothing. Yarrow then loosely traced his claws around the flower, barely grazing the dirt and raising the beginnings of crabgrass and ragweed. "Do you know how flowers eat, Wither?"

Wither looked back and forth between Yarrow and his work. "Yeah, of course. You've told me many times. Their roots absorb nutrients from the soil."

"And which would you deem the more important plant here?"

"Well," Wither paused, trying not to fall into one of Yarrow's logic traps. "Everything in this world has its place. Which is more important depends on from which angle you're looking at the question. It depends who's asking and who's answering."

Yarrow revealed a couple of his longer teeth when Wither said this. "A diplomatic answer, but let us say that the context is as simple as it actually stands in the present moment."

Wither regarded the plants Yarrow was stroking and said, "Then I would have to say that the flower is more important than the weeds. Weeds can grow anywhere. They're a nuisance."

Yarrow nodded at this answer and said, "You're very right. Weeds can grow anywhere, and if allowed to do so, they grow nearly everywhere. If left unattended, a garden will become overrun by weeds." Yarrow quickened his circling paw movements around the carnation, willing his power into the surrounding weeds. "Their roots riddle the soil. They surround all other forms of life, and steal all of their nutrients." The weeds continued to grow and the carnation stranded in the middle of the miniature rampant jungle browned and wilted. "The lesser plants choke the life out of their superiors."

Wither gulped and looked up from the display into Yarrow's eyes.

"Do you understand, Wither?"

"I—I think so."

"Good. A few weeds never hurt anyone. As you said, everything in this world has its place. But don't allow them to overrun your garden."

"Okay."

Yarrow waved his paw stiffly and deftly once over the vegetation and it all was disintegrated in an instant, reduced to a fine power that rejoined the soil once more. "Speaking of gardens, I must tend to mine. Don't you think you should be doing the same?"

Cynder drew Wither up against her with her tail and said, "He's right. We must make our way to the arena. Training starts soon."

"Take us there, Wither, if you'd be so kind," said Spyro.

Wither led the way to a shifting point and the Spyro family disappeared from Yarrow's garden.

XXX

Exhumor walked down the streets of Warfang, Mole-Yair at his side. "It would have been kind of one of those dragons to tell us where to find one of the moles of Mjölnir. Unless they are everywhere, we will be looking around this city for hours."

"I'm sure we'll happen upon one of them sooner or later, brother. Why would the dragons just send us out into the street if our chances of finding a mole were slim?"

"I suppose you have a point. But where can we find them? This city appears to be all but empty. There are so many buildings towering over us from every side, but no one around who might inhabit them."

"Hello!" Mole-Yair cupped his hands together and called out into the empty city. "Is there anyone out there? We seek passage to Mjölnir. If there is anyone out there who can lead us to the mole capital, please answer our call. Deunen razi comfervo!"

A segment of stone in the street slid out of place and receded into a pocket in the stone. The moles walked toward the new opening and peered down a flight of stairs leading into Warfang's underbelly. Exhumor placed a paw on his brother's shoulder. "Mole-Yair, the ancient language of our people—it has opened a passage. This must be an entrance to Mjölnir."

"Deunen razi comfervo," said Mole-Yair once more under his breath. "Show us the way home. It must be magic, no? Could it be? Did some of the magic in the blood of our ancestors survive? Could there be mages among the ranks of our people once more?"

"Or perhaps some of the ancient texts have been discovered and are being used to reteach the arcane arts once more." Exhumor scratched his head and looked to his brother. He held a hand out to the passageway and said, "Only one way to find out."

Together, the brothers descended into the earth. Once they reached the point where even the eyes of the natural nocturnes could see no further, several lights hanging from the walls flicked on, revealing the way forward. At the same time, the stone panel that hid the tunnel slid back into place, shutting them away from the outside world. "What now?"

"Onward," said Exhumor.

They continued down the tunnel activating more lights further ahead as they went. Mole-Yair glanced behind them and noticed that the lights behind them switched off as they progressed. "It must be magic. I can think of no other explanation for this."

"We can ask our brothers and sisters when we get to Mjölnir." Exhumor picked up the pace and gestured for his brother to do the same.

"You know who would have loved to see this? Quincy would have a fit if he were here right now."

"If Quincy were here right now, we could dump him off on the dragons like we should have done long ago and be rid of him."

"You don't mean that," said Mole-Yair. "Quincy is family. Family isn't something you just get rid of."

"I know," said Exhumor.

"I'm afraid, brother. What if—what if something terrible has happened to the boy? What if—?"

"Quincy is fine," said Exhumor. "For one, those invaders wouldn't be able to find him even if they knew to look for him. Two, Quincy is a smart boy. He probably left Munitions Forge the second he had the chance if he has half the brains I think he does."

"Then where could he be? He doesn't know where we are, brother. He's out there somewhere in the world, all alone. He's lost without a compass to guide him."

"He has a compass, Mole-Yair. All dragons have powerful instincts. Munitions Forge is no longer an acceptable place to stay. Quincy's intuition will guide him here, to Warfang, the way a salmon always swims back to the river from which its ancestors arose."

"If that's true, shouldn't he have beaten us here?" Mole-Yair ran a hand through the fur on the back of his neck.

"Calm yourself brother. Quincy is fine. You just have to have faith. Speaking of faith, which way do you think we should go?"

Mole-Yair looked over Exhumor's shoulder and saw a circular crossroads in their path. "Seven paths? But which one is the right one?"

"How should I know? Have I ever been to Mjölnir?"

"But we can't just take any path. We could get lost. If these tunnels are as expansive as the ones in Munitions Forge, we could die in a three dimensional labyrinth that only the makers can navigate."

"And yet we cannot sit here and hope that someone will come through and show us the way to Mjölnir."

"Maybe we should head back."

"Hold on, I hear something." Exhumor held a paw in the air for silence and waited for a few seconds. A distant rattle could be heard heading their way. "What do you know? Looks like we can just wait for someone to walk by. What luck."

From out of the tunnel to the left of the middle path, a mole walked into the fork in the path. She raised a hand and said, "Well, hello there. Manweersmalls? I've never seen any of you in person. Traveled all the way here from Munitions Forge have you? You've come a long way. I see you had no trouble discovering one of our tunnels to Mjölnir. Clever brothers. My name is Lodima. I'll be your guide to Mjölnir."

The brothers shuffled forward into the open area and introduced themselves. "Greetings, Lodima. I am Mole-Yair, and this is my brother, Exhumor. We have co-led the manweersmall mole tribe for several decades now."

"Oh, the chiefs. How delightful. For what reason do you journey to Mjölnir?"

"We seek sanctuary in the mother city," said Exhumor. "Our entire tribe was wiped out by the enemy forces in this new war."

"What?" Lodima reached for a device that hung from her waist and raised it to her mouth. She pressed a button and spoke into the black box. "Lodima reporting in."

Several seconds ticked by as Mole-Yair and Exhumor exchanged confused glances. Before they could ask what Lodima was doing, the box answered back. "Leximus to Lodima. Have you discovered the cause of entrance one-eight-nine's malfunction?"

Lodima pressed the button again and said, "Sir, it was no malfunction. There are two manweersmalls from Munitions Forge at the first divergence seeking sanctuary in Mjölnir. They say that the entire manweersmall tribe has been annihilated. They are the only known exceptions."

A long silence followed this information. After another wait the box replied back, "I'll relay the information to the chiefs. They won't be happy to hear of a mole genocide. Take the refugees to Mjölnir. Have them wait in the Hall of Techne. The chiefs will want to speak with them."

The box went silent and Lodima confirmed that she understood before placing the device back into her belt. "I'm terribly sorry to hear about your loss. Soon, the whole mole nation will be grieving with you as I do now."

Mole-Yair bowed and muttered a solemn thank you. Exhumor stepped forward and pointed at the box at Lodima's waist. "Is that magic? Do our people possess the powers of old once more?"

"Oh, no. We have invested our faith in a new power over the decades here in Mjölnir. Science."

"Science? You mean the studies of understanding how the world works?"

"Yes, our science has progressed by leaps and bounds over the past two decades especially. Just you wait until you see Mjölnir. It will change your world view. Come along now, we mustn't keep the chiefs waiting."

XXX

"They killed all of them?"

Wither sat between his parents as they told the rest of the class what they learned earlier. Renna was staring at Wither with what he could only guess was horrified disbelief. The rest of the dragons absorbed the news as though it were a blow to the gut. Elleca and Psy were nearly glowing with their building rage and Roxy and Sora were both trying to calm them down respectively. Tera and Vera were crying silently and holding each other by the tails.

"I know it sounds harsh," said Cynder, "but this is the enemy we're dealing with. You need to know what we're up against. When the real fighting starts, you must show no mercy toward your opponents for they will do you no such kindness. It's kill or be killed in war. You cannot let your guard down for a second in battle. If you do, you will share the fate of the Atlawa and the manweersmalls."

"Does everyone understand?" said Spyro.

Everyone nodded in response, everyone except Renna. Cynder slid her tail around Renna and drew her in. "Renna, do you understand?"

"I already told you once. I don't want to hurt anyone. This whole thing is just awful. Why would they kill all of them? What does that accomplish? What good did that do them?"

"None at all," said Spyro. "There was no sense in it. Those boys did it because they wanted to. Malefor's sadistic tendencies appear to be breeding in their minds. I'll tell you one thing that's certain. There is no reasoning with someone willing to do such things. You may not want to hurt anyone, but I suspect that's out of a desire for peace, is it not? If so, then fight, not with the intention of harming your foes, but with the resolve to avenge those who have fallen under their might and to protect all of their potential future victims. If their campaign is not brought to an end soon, it will only continue. And it will get worse. The more power they accumulate, the more lives they will ruin. Good people don't fight wars with the desire to kill, Renna. If you do, then that makes you one of them. But you don't have to be like them to match their ferocity with a righteous fury."

"Okay?" asked Cynder.

"Okay," said Renna. She pushed Cynder's tail away and stepped over it, walking back toward the rest of the group. She sat down and quietly awaited further instruction.

At the end of the day, everyone went home, sore as usual. When the Spyro family shifted into the master bedroom in their tower, Wither flopped his entire body down on the pillows and just lay there, breathing. "Still tired at the end of the day?" asked Spyro.

"Yeah."

"You don't work up stamina too well," said Cynder. She picked Wither's foreleg up let it fall back down as limp as prey that's been caught.

"I make up for it in magic, don't I?"

"We'd prefer you be a bit more rounded than that," said Spyro. He lay down on the pillows and used a paw to drag Wither up against his belly. "But yes. I suppose you do."

"When's all this painful physical training going to end? I feel like you guys have been focusing more on that than magic."

Cynder curled up next to Spyro and craned her neck over his should to peer down at Wither. "That's because physical strength and prowess comes only from practice. Your magical capabilities can be artificially enhanced easily enough. Well, your friends' can anyway. We've already determined that blue crystals have no effect on you. You don't need them anyway."

"Huh? You mean you're going to give everyone blue crystal supplements? The elders approved that?"

"We talked with Yarrow about it while you were enjoying your day off at the library. He agreed that, considering the strength that those wicked younglings have displayed, we need to give you a boost. It's only fair since they're using rather powerful magic enhancing artifacts themselves."

"So let me get this straight. My friends get to absorb blue crystals, the one resource our race regulates by law. And I'm not allowed to use my own equivalent of a fury ability, which comes naturally to me?"

"Wither, we've talked about this," said Cynder. "You're not allowed to use that power without strict supervision."

"What do you call yourselves? You are, if nothing else, supervision during our training."

"No," said Cynder as she poked Wither between the eyes. "Not until Yarrow is ready to continue the testing."

"When's that gonna be? I don't want to wait forever because it isn't convenient for Yarrow to decide if I can use my own magic yet."

"We're aware of that," said Spyro as he and Cynder nodded. "We feel the same way, but understand something, Wither. Yarrow is very hesitant to see you use that power. He has a strong aversion to dark magic."

"Setting the obvious reason aside, why? No one likes dark magic, but he's like, afraid of it or something."

"Because, Wither. Yarrow has seen what it can do. Remember, Malefor used to be his student once upon a time. It must have been hard for him to watch Malefor's corruption and then have to exile him. Yarrow just doesn't want that to happen again. Especially not to you."

"I guess so. But he'd better hurry up and get over it. Forbidden or not, I'll do what it takes to defend myself if we get attacked again."

"No one would be able to blame you for that," said Spyro. "Just don't use it in casual circumstances until Yarrow gives you the all clear."

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

"Good, see that you do. Now get some sleep. We have big plans for you tomorrow."

"I love hearing that." Wither fluffed one of his pillows and laid his head on it. "Just set me on fire and get it over with."

Spyro pursed his lips and blew a tiny tongue of flame onto Wither's cheek. It lasted only for a split second, not long enough to even feel the heat, but as Wither saw the flash out of the corner of his eye, he let out a yelp and almost jumped out of bed.

Spyro and Cynder laughed as Wither glared at his father before settling down again and turning his back to them. "Night."

"Aw, can't take a joke?"

"I'm tired."

"Then go to sleep," said Cynder.

"Okay. I will."

"Good night, Wither."

"Night."

"No. Good night, Wither."

"Good night."

Wither closed his eyes and relaxed his body further, preparing for a restful night. "Welcome back. Long time no see."

Wither lifted one eyelid at the sound of the voice. When he realized that he was staring at a massive hourglass he bolted up and glanced around. Standing to his left was Ignitus. "Oh come on. Again?"

Ignitus closed the book he was reading and allowed it to lift off the podium and drift back to its proper spot on a distant shelf. "Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Not really. Every time you bring me here I wake up more tired than I was when I went to bed. Plus, you always give me bad news."

"Bad news should be welcomed when it is a warning that you otherwise would not receive."

"There it is. I knew it. Fine then. What is it?"

Ignitus walked up to the hourglass dominating the center of the room and stared into its glossy surface. "I've been watching Malefor for the past few days. Each day, he's been making large strides in preparation for war. As my spirit walks by his side each day, I hear talk of plans to invade Warfang in a most offensive manner. When Malefor returned back to Mount Genesis as he calls it, he revitalized his generals. After doing so, he ordered them to spread out and invade key locations at the edges of Avalar. As you already know, Arragor has taken up residence in Munitions Forge to the south and Obsidius has claimed the Tall Plains to the east. It may interest you to know that Xath has taken control of the long abandoned Concurrent Skies to the west and Zar has commandeered Dante's Freezer to the north. With Malefor at the dead center of the Avalar mainland in Mount Genesis, they have effectively surrounded everyone everywhere."

Wither watched Ignitus, no longer irritated at the unwelcomed summons. "Is that true?"

"Yes, but there's more. These four days Malefor has been building massive black crystal arches, one for himself and each of his generals at all of their bases. By the end of tomorrow he will be finished with the last one. Malefor has informed his generals, and in doing so, inadvertently informed me that these arches are capable of powering and sustaining portals large enough for armies to walk through."

Wither walked up to Ignitus and placed and leaned up against the hourglass for support. He suddenly felt dizzy. "Where do these arches lead?"

"The thresholds, as Malefor calls them, can open a portal to anywhere. Amophis is dreadfully powerful. It will bridge the distance one would fly at full speed in a week. My knowledge of the present is infinite. As the Chronicler, I see all as it is. I also possess the ability to see things as they will be. However, this power is limited. It builds slowly over time and is stored in this hourglass. The blue liquid on top is what remains."

Wither looked up and saw what appeared to be only a few pawfuls of the mystic substance. The majority of the contents rested in the bottom. "There's so little."

"Being the Chronicler is a job that typically takes several millennia. I've been at it for twenty years. I haven't built up much of my Chronicler powers yet. All of this recent future gazing has torn what little I've gathered over the last two decades away from me. I just used up another small portion of it today. I wanted to see what Malefor plans to do in the near future. Listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you, Wither. The day after tomorrow, the assault on Warfang will begin. They will strike early and in great force. The citizens of Warfang must be ready if they are to survive."

"How many should we be expecting? What kinds of forces should we be expecting? Is there anything else we should do to prepare?"

"My power dwindles." Ignitus watched as a trickle escaped the upper half of the hourglass. "I can't afford to keep you here any longer. There's still much I must see. Already I must pick and choose what will be divined and what will be left to fate. Farewell, Wither. May the ancestors look after you."

"Ignitus, wait!" The Celestial Caves faded to black as Wither shouted out to the Chronicler in a vain attempt for more time.


	28. Chapter 27-Finishing Touches

Chapter 27-Finishing Touches

"Wither, wake up. Wake up."

Wither was shaken awake by his father as the dream came to an end. "What? What's going on?"

Cynder placed a paw on his shoulder to steady him. "You were shouting in your sleep. You kept calling for Ignitus. He reached you in your dreams again, didn't he?"

Wither settled back down now that he was awake and sat down on the floor. "Yeah, he did."

After a moment's pause Spyro waved him on. "Well? What did he have to say?"

Wither curled his tail around his body and fiddled with his tail spade, making nervous growling noises. "You're not going to like it."

Three minutes later, the family shifted into Yarrow's garden. Wither shielded his eyes from the sun. _Is it morning already?_

Yarrow rose up from where he sat, adding plants to the last segment of his garden. "Good morning. I hope you don't come to me with more bad news. It seems that's the reason for your visits these days."

"We'd come back tomorrow, but by then it'd be too late," said Cynder.

Yarrow rubbed his temples with a wary exhaustion and said, "Go ahead then."

"The Chronicler has spoken with Wither again," said Spyro.

Yarrow dropped his paws to the ground and lay down to face Wither at eye level. "What did Ignitus tell you this time?"

Wither relayed the message to Yarrow who promptly rose to his feet once more and walked back over to the unfinished section of his garden. He waved a paw over a barren patch of ground, prompting grass to miraculously spring forth from seemingly nothing. Yarrow then pinched two of his claws together in both paws and wove them around in the air over the new grassy patch. Multiflora rose tangled around itself and grew sharp, gnarly thorns that were far bigger than they would have been had the plant grown naturally, at least six inches long. "That'll have to do for now. My garden is officially complete once more. I will reinstate my flora fortress and weave the mental net throughout the city again. Go to the arena and prepare your students. A generous quantity of blue crystals awaits you there. By the time they are done consuming them I will be ready to issue more orders from here to everyone. Now go."

Yarrow turned and made his way toward the center of his garden, the many plants he had just finished planting uprooting themselves and wrapping around his body as he went.

"Come on." Spyro motioned forward and Wither opened a shifting point for them.

When they entered the arena, everyone stood at the ready. "All right, what's for today?" said Psy. "Hopefully not more physical training. I'm still a bit sore from yesterday."

"Not today, Psy," said Cynder. "Today will conclude your training for the foreseeable future."

"Awesome. Wait, what?"

"The Chronicler has spoken to Wither in his dreams again. Tomorrow the siege of Warfang will begin. We have already informed Yarrow of the situation and he has given us instructions to give you those."

Everyone turned to where Cynder's paw indicated. "A pile of green crystals?" asked Tera.

"No, look again," said Roxy. "Those are blue crystals."

"What? No way!" said Vera as she and her sister began to fidget with a mixture of excitement and fear.

"Your skills are among the best in your generation, but still, you are younglings. And though your training has been intense, it has been short lived. A booster will be required to keep you as safe and prepared for battle as possible. There are enough blue crystals here to increase the magical capabilities of each of you tenfold. After today, you will all feel like new dragons. And as you are aware, the blue crystals provide a permanent boost, so these will forever change you. There's nothing we need to train you to know in order to handle the new power, so you will simply be more effective fighters. This is the entire year's rations of blue crystals. They all go to you. Use them well."

"Don't you worry about that. I will." Elleca bound off toward the pile only to be called back by Cynder.

When Elleca came trudging back with her tail dragging the ground, Cynder said, "We will separate the pile into even sized piles for each of you. We don't want any of you getting less or more than anyone else."

After several minutes of sorting, Spyro called the students forward. "Here you go. There's a pile for each of you, except for Wither. We'd give you one, too, but you can't use them. Personally, I think you'll be okay."

Wither lifted his head at the praise and watched as his friends stepped forward and slowly reached their paws out toward the first crystals. Roxy almost seemed hesitant as though someone was going to rush toward them at any moment and yell that blue crystals were forbidden, but when Spyro and Cynder urged him on, he grasped the smallest one he could find. The crystal glowed sapphire for a brief period before melting beneath his scales. "Oh, it's warm."

While Roxy had taken the smallest piece he could see, Elleca sought out the largest gem in her pile. She dug her claws in and absorbed it with great gusto. When it was all gone, she cocked her head and eyed the rest of the pile. "That's funny. I don't feel any different. Maybe it just takes more?" She continued to absorb the rest of her crystals as fast as she could.

As they all absorbed their crystals, Cynder said, "You won't feel a difference. Not until you try using your magic. What once was a noticeable drain on the magic stored in your bodies will now come like second nature to you. Your powers will also be considerably stronger, probably about as strong as your parents, who have had at least a century to build up their magic. But do not be fooled. You still do not possess a hundred years of experience. And your magic is by no means limitless. We've simply done our best to turn children into adult level warriors. I have no idea why the Chronicler chose you to help Wither end this war, but I won't argue with a prophet when it comes to matters of the future."

When all of the blue crystals were gone Wither looked his friends up and down. "Well?"

They all looked back and forth between one another as if asking what they should do now. Then Roxy lifted a paw and a loud cracking sound filled the air. Tiny fissures encircled him briefly before the segment of the ground he was sitting on rose up into the air. He held himself aloft on his own private floating platform and surveyed his awestruck friends from above. He then lifted four youngling sized chunks of stone out of the ground and squeezed his paw tightly. They stones compacted to half their original size and began to spin around his body. He then flicked his claws out, releasing his fist. Tiny pellets began chipping away from the boulders and rained down on the arena. The dense rock impacted with such force that he turned the smooth stone floor into gravel in a matter of seconds. When the rocks were spent and the dust cloud cleared up a bit, Roxy settled his platform back into the ground and slammed one paw forward on the ground. All of the gravel puzzle pieced itself back together and sealed up the cracks, smoothing out the floor once more.

"Roxy, that was—amazing." Elleca stepped forward and rubbed her paws all over Roxy's body. "Huh? No."

"What are you doing?"

Elleca backed up and smoothed her scales down a bit, looking down at the ground. "Nothing. I just, thought you looked bigger for a second there, but it—it must have been my imagination."

Roxy opened his mouth to respond, but a loud buzz filled the air and drowned out the first syllables of what he was going to say. When the buzzing stopped, Yarrow's voice filled the city. "_Testing, testing. Can everyone hear me?_" A chorus of responses from everyone in Warfang answered back inside everyone's minds. "_Excellent. It has come to my attention that the Chronicler has given us a warning that the siege of Warfang will begin first thing tomorrow. Terrador, give me a status report on the fortifications outside the city._"

"_The inner trench and barricade are complete and the outer trench is finished. The ice dragons are putting the finishing touches on the inner trench and the poison dragons are doing the same for the outer one._"

"_When can you expect them to be done?_"

"_No later than high sun._"

"_Good, and how are our food stores looking?_"

"_We have enough to feed the city for roughly five years by my calculations,_" said Volteer.

"_Vivian, what do our crystal reserves look like?_"

"_The caverns under Warfang have been mined extensively. There are still more than enough down here to last everyone in the city several lifetimes, but there are enough crystals up on the surface now to keep everyone battle ready for several months of intensive defense._"

"_I've also discovered another vein of blue crystals,_" said Noh.

"_Good, bring those up as well. We'll need them. Valorie, how are the skies?_"

"_Aerial wards are in place all over the skies above Warfang. We couldn't wall the whole city off, but we made an invisible maze up there that should batter anyone who tries to fly over our defenses. Only the luckiest will get through._"

"_Good, good, good. Excellent job everyone. We have the ground defended, we have the air covered, we have enough supplies to keep us going for years. Is there anything I'm missing?_" After several seconds of silence Yarrow continued. "_No, that should cover everything except one last thing. Wither, I have a special mission for you._"

"_Say the word,_" said Wither, uncomfortably aware that everyone in the city was listening.

"_The Chronicler told you that the enemy would be using Amophis powered thresholds to open portals to get them here, is that right?_"

"_Yes?_"

"_My point is, all of these defenses will have been for naught if the enemy troops can be transported inside the city._"

"_Oh, I hadn't thought of that!_" said Wither as he mentally beat himself up for overlooking such a critical detail.

"_Yes, it's very important that they can't do that. I need you to spend the rest of the day converting massive quantities of crystals into dark crystals so that they can be placed around the city. I think that by doing this, you can make certain that the dark crystals will drain only Amophis. Can you do that?_"

"_I don't see why not._"

"_Good, that way, the crystals won't drain anyone within their range, and the crystals will act as blockers, preventing anyone from getting inside Warfang's walls the easy way._"

"_But Yarrow, Warfang is so big. How can I place enough crystals around Warfang to cover all of it?_"

"_You won't. I need you to come to the plaza in the center of Warfang. Everyone else is to report there once they are finished with their other duties. You are just in charge of making the crystals. You're the only one who can do it, so we need you to focus on that and that alone. Everyone else will act as ferries, bringing you crystals to convert and carrying the converted crystals to key locations around the city. I will orchestrate the positioning of the crystals from here at my hive. This is the last thing we must do. Everyone make haste. Vivian, Noh, I want you to begin leading the ferrying of crystals to the plaza for Wither now. Use green and red crystals as you see fit. Make sure to keep what we have balanced._"

"_Yes, Yarrow._"

"_Let's get everything done as fast as we can. Make haste, but don't sacrifice quality for speed. I leave you to it._" The buzz of voices in everyone's heads lowered until it was a barely noticeable drone as Yarrow continued to relay more detailed instructions to individuals.

Wither felt his mother curl her tail around him and looked up. "Go ahead and go to the plaza, Wither. They are going to start bringing you crystals now. Do you think you're up to this?"

"Of course. It's just going to be a little monotonous, doing the same thing all day."

"We'll check in on you to see how you're doing every now and then while we bring you crystals. Ah, Yarrow's urging us to the crystal stocks now. We'd all best be on our way."

"What about us?" asked Roxy.

"You are all too small to be of much use in the ferrying process," said Spyro. "You are free to do as you wish for the rest of the day so long as you don't get in anyone's way. And reserve your strength. Don't play around with your new power too much. You'll be needing it tomorrow."

"See you later guys," said Wither. "Have fun, I guess." With that, Wither shifted his parents to the crystal stocks, then himself to the main plaza of Warfang.

The remaining students milled around in the arena together for a couple minutes before bidding each other a good day. The group then broke up and scattered about the city. Psy and Sora took off toward the northern exit, Roxy and Elleca chose to go west, while the twins went east. Only Renna didn't know where to go. She drew lazy circles in the dust with her tail spade all alone in the massive coliseum. When she finally found the silence and the solitude too profound she walked toward no exit in particular, dragging her tail along the ground behind her.

XXX

Tera and Vera ran home as fast as they could without stopping. When they reached the mansion, they walked up to the door and said, "Tera here."

"Vera here."

The door opened and let them inside. Their claws tapped on the granite floor as they approached the statue of Daedalus, their great great great grandfather and the late Ice Master. Daedalus was reared up on his back paws and balanced on his tail. Water poured from his open mouth and both forepaws into the fountain that dominated the center of the foyer. Beyond the fountain two staircases curved to either side before coming together on the second floor.

"I wonder if mom and dad are home," said Tera.

"I doubt it," said Vera.

"Maybe they're still filling the moats? Oh, well."

"Well, yeah, but even when they finish that they'll be taking the crystals to Wither for the rest of the day."

"Dang, you're right. I guess we have the rest of the day to ourselves then, huh?"

"You know what that means," said Vera with a grin.

Tera cupped her paws around her mouth and yelled. "A Priori!"

"A Posteriori!" said Vera.

Two moles came running out of the east wing and waved at the twins. The moles, who were sisters themselves, worked for Tera and Vera's family as housekeepers, nursemaids, family practitioners, and so on. They had been a part of the family since before Tera and Vera were born. A Priori was thirty now, having worked for the family since she was eighteen. A Posteriori, the elder by three years, held her arms out to give the twins a welcoming hug. "Tera, Vera, you're back from training already? I suppose that makes sense, considering the current state of events."

"Yup, we've officially graduated from war training," said Vera.

"Tomorrow we advance into battle," said Tera. Both of the twins scooted closer together and stared at the floor quietly.

"Oh, I just don't think it's right," said A Priori. "Having younglings do adult things like participate in war. The rest of your generation is exempt from it. The majority of your classmates are to be brought to Mjölnir to ride out the coming battles. It is a pity you two won't be joining them, we would have loved to show you around our city."

"We'd like that, too," said Tera. "But we can't abandon Wither or the rest of the city. The Chronicler has told Wither in his dreams that we and the rest of our friends are to help him end this war. There's no arguing with fate."

"No," said A Posteriori. She waved a hand and cut Tera off before she could say any more. "It's not fate. Think of it more as destiny. There is a world of difference. Fate is letting the world happen to you. Destiny is making you happen to the world. You are in control of your lives. You decide what does and doesn't happen in them. Are you going to let fate shape them for you? Or are you going to shape your own destinies?"

Vera looked up at the statue of Daedalus. He had been the Ice Master before Cyril, the predecessor of the infamous Latskie. Of the four thousand ice dragons of his time eligible for the position, he was the one who rose to take the seat on the Council of Elders and continue to help lead and protect the dragon race. No one had told him to do it. Many had said he wouldn't be right for the job, but he wanted it, and he made it happen.

Vera turned to A Posteriori and said, "We want nothing more than to be the absolute best we can be. What good are we if we're told we can help end this war and do nothing to try? What does it say about us if we know we could help our friends and family and choose not to? We will fight."

"Even though we'd prefer not to," said Tera. "But, sometimes you have to do things you don't want to. Right?"

A Posteriori crossed her arms and said, "I suppose that's right. But I am so proud of you. That was a fine answer. Come. Let's go have us some fun. Certainly there's something that you two would like to do today? Something relaxing that won't tire you out for tomorrow."

Tera and Vera followed the sisters into the east wing where A Priori and A Posteriori lived. They tried not to think about tomorrow.

XXX

Sora led Psy through the streets of Warfang and into the park they used to play in before the Great Awakening. Spyro Tower stretched up into the sky just a block away from where they stood. The trees and shrubbery that had once made this place a little haven carved into the city were gone now. They had yet to be replaced after Yarrow used them to create the Ranvacoya. None of the green things that used to brighten up the city were around anymore. Only weeds poked their way up through the soil to rear their ugly heads once more. The beautiful things that had made the park their childhood Eden were no more.

"This place meant everything to me," said Sora as tears streaked down her face. "Now look at it. It's ruined. Everything is just—gone."

Psy remembered all the times they had spent in this grove, this tiny alcove in the city. Before, the bushes and the trees at the edge of the small open space were so thick that an adult couldn't see or come inside. It was the only place they could go to escape, until the day Arragor and his gang had followed theirs and found out about their secret sanctuary. That was the day Wither had snuck out of his tower before the Great Awakening. It was only about three months ago. It felt more like three years.

Psy draped a wing over Sora and used a paw to tilt her head upward. "Chin up. It's still the same place. The plants can be grown back. I'm sure Yarrow will see to it."

"It's stupid," said Sora. "The plants wouldn't have to be replaced if they hadn't been ripped up in the first place."

"Yarrow needed them, my little whirlwind. Without their help things might have turned out even worse than they did that day."

"It's just not fair," she said as she traced her claws through the dirt gently. "The plants had nothing to do with this war. They didn't hurt anyone. But they were the first to pay the price. Plants are alive, too, you know?"

"Yes, I do." Psy nuzzled her ear and whispered into it. "So does Yarrow. Better than anyone else, I'm sure. He wouldn't have done it if he hadn't felt it was necessary. But don't worry. Someday this place will be looking just like it used to, and then we can come back and hang out in our little corner just like we always did when we wanted to be alone."

Sora shivered and slid her head under Psy's chin. "I know it will. I just hope it doesn't take too long. I want to be able to fit in our secret spot at least one more time before the trees and bushes grow back."

Psy closed his eyes and just spent the moment feeling Sora under his chin. He breathed in and smelled lavender and cotton. Sora rubbed oils on her scales every day, he knew, both to shine them up and because she had learned a while ago that he loved the scent. "Please be careful tomorrow."

"No, you be careful. I don't want you rushing into things like you always do. Please, Psy, for the love of the ancestors, don't do anything even remotely foolish. I know you can't help yourself sometimes, but you can't be so selfish. You can't just charge into danger because that's what you want to do."

Psy wiped the tears from her eyes and pulled her into a tight embrace. "I'll keep myself in check. For you if not myself. But I won't be able to keep that promise if anything happens to you. It would be like trying to catch water with a net."

"Then I'll be as careful as I can. I can't imagine the elders will allow us to participate in anything that dangerous anyway."

"Yeah. I'm sure you're right. We're just kids. What will they make us do that's so bad?" Psy leaned down and brushed the nape of Sora's neck with his lips.

A small intake of breath met his ears. "Nothing, I'm sure. We'll be fine." Sora pulled away to smile up at Psy, though her eyes weren't smiling at all.

"Don't look so sad," said Psy. "Let's try to have a good time today."

"What would you like to do?"

Psy placed his head under Sora's chin and rested his ear against her throat. "Sing the song for me?"

"Oh Psy, again? I think you're becoming addicted to it."

"But it's so beautiful and it means so much to me. And your voice does it all the justice it deserves. No one could do it better."

"You're biased," said Sora. A giggle bounced Psy's head on her chest.

"Perhaps, but in the way I'm biased toward water and air."

"All right then. How can I refuse you?" Sora stroked the back of Psy's neck and began to sing.

"_When your anger starts to rise,  
>And that hatred fills your eyes,<br>When it's been pent up for days,  
>And your world becomes a haze,<br>When you've met your patience's end,  
>I'm still by your side my friend.<em>

_With a soothing breeze,  
>I'll calm you with ease.<br>With a gust in your ear,  
>I'll breathe reason you'll hear.<br>I'll blow your demons away,  
>And make sure you're okay.<em>

_Though I'm too shy to stay by your side,  
>When we're out in the open I hide,<br>Shove my feelings way deep down inside,  
>Someday I will hold your tail with pride.<em>

_Though for now I turn tail and take flight,  
>When there's others who have us in sight,<br>Know someday I'll grow out of my fright,  
>And stop loving you only at night.<em>

_So take all your little frustrations,  
>Ignore them like all your temptations,<br>Gather up all those threads by their ends,  
>And I'll blow them away with the winds.<br>I'll cast all the shadows from your heart,  
>Trust in me, this is only the start.<br>If there's one thing you can count true,  
>Know that I will always love you."<em>

XXX

Elleca walked along the metal scaffolding some moles were using in a currently abandoned construction project. Roxy looked up at her when he heard yet another gleeful giggle. She hung upside down, walking along the underside with her electromagnetically charged paws. "I know you're excited, but they told us to conserve our strength for tomorrow."

"I can't help it, it's so easy. Do you know how hard it was to do something like this before? I had to focus with all my might, and even then, it would only last for about ten seconds. Now it's almost like regular walking."

Roxy eyed Elleca as she walked above him and up the side of a steel beam. "That's got to be killing your mana. Why don't you come down?"

Elleca stuck her tongue out at him and kept climbing. "You're not a lightning dragon. Don't act like you know how I use my powers. It's hard to control as a beginner, but it actually uses minimal energy to maintain even over extended periods."

"Whatever you say, but if you run out of energy tomorrow and die, I'll kill you."

"Shut up, boulder brain."

"Eat me, electric idiot."

Elleca turned around and stared down at Roxy. "Electric idiot? Nicely done. How long did it take you to come up with that one?"

"A while." Roxy scuffed a paw in the dirt. "Are you going to come down or are you going to leave me all alone down here?"

"Oh, quit your whining." Elleca slid down the steel beam and touched down next to Roxy. "There. Better?"

"Thank you," said Roxy. He swat Elleca on the nose with his tail and kept walking.

"Excuse you. Did you really just do that?"

Roxy kept walking and said, "So what if I did?"

Elleca hunched down, ready to pounce on him, her tail waving back and forth in anticipation. "So that's how you want it, huh? I'm game."

Elleca lunged. She fell on her face. Roxy burst out laughing. "Didn't even notice, did you?" He turned around and watched as Elleca pulled against the rock that encased one of her back paws. "Good luck, I felt out some granite for that. You're not going anywhere."

"Roxy, you let me go!"

"Sure. After some fun. How many times have you teased me in the past just because you could? It's time for some pay back, and there's a lot of catching up to do."

"W-what are you going to do to me?" asked Elleca

"Whoa, are you actually scared? No way."

Elleca puffed up her cheeks and stamped her forepaws. "I'm not scared! Especially not of you. You wouldn't hurt me anyway."

"Hurt you? Elleca, what do you take me for? I'm not gonna hurt you." Roxy pat Elleca on the tail, receiving a jolt in the process. "Ow! Well that was stupid. Anyway, let's get down to business."

"Roxy, I'm going to kill you in your sleep."

"Like I haven't heard that one before," said Roxy with a smile. More rock crawled across Elleca's body, almost completely encasing her in an inch of solid granite. When only her face was uncovered, he coated one of his claws in dirt and began to tickle the tip of Elleca's nose. "Oh, man. Doesn't that suck?"

Elleca quietly said, "I'm gonna kill you," before bursting out into laughter. The claw to her nose tickled, but she had to admit, Roxy had her good. "You butt, let me go."

"I'm not done yet," said Roxy as he swirled his claw around the rim inside one of Elleca's nostrils. "Since the day we were born, you've teased me five thousand four hundred and eighty seven times. I'm going to get you back."

"That's an oddly specific number." Elleca sneezed. "You can't possibly remember every time I've teased you."

"See? Even you admit it's been a lot."

"I can't help it. It's too fun."

"I can see why you think so. I find a certain satisfaction in this." Roxy backed away from Elleca and sat down in front of her.

"What are you doing no—oh my ancestors!" Elleca tried with all her might to squirm, but was held firmly in place by the rock all around her. The walls inside her prison were now swimming around across her scales, rippling and tickling every inch of her body. "Roxy, no! Stop! It's too much, too much!"

Roxy laughed and watched Elleca laugh so hard that tears began to leak out of the corners of her eyes. "I've never seen you in such a good mood. You're really cute when you're all helpless like this, you know?"

"I'm not helpless!" A buzz filled the air and Roxy's scales ruffled.

"What the—?" Lightning touched down a couple inches from Roxy's body. "Whoa! You almost killed me!"

"Let me go, now."

"Okay, okay, I guess you've had enough." Roxy allowed the rock to melt away into the ground. He was on his back with Elleca over him in a second. He stared up at her and gave her a wink. "I got you back. Truce?"

Elleca shivered, still able to feel the rock swirling around her body. She gave Roxy a grin. "You get that one for free. You do it again, and I'll make you regret each day afterward."

"Every day with you is another regret," said Roxy, returning the grin.

One of Elleca's tears landed on Roxy's face. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him. He gasped as she sat atop him, holding him. "Elleca."

"You're my best friend, Roxy. Please. Please be careful tomorrow."

Roxy lay on the ground for a moment, then slowly placed his paws on her back, pulling her closer. "You're my best friend, too, Elleca. I don't want anything to happen to you either."

"Shut up." Roxy felt new moisture wet his neck. "You've always been such a klutz. Don't you get it? I'm worried about you. You don't have to worry about me. I'm a warrior. I've always known that. You're just a goofball with a knack for always saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. You thought a foot was literally the length of your own foot until you were ten, and that it was a different measurement for everyone. You're so gullible you believed me when I told you that if you keep chasing your tail you'll eventually catch it. You won't last a day. Not a day."

Elleca began to shudder. Roxy rolled her over on her side and got up. "It's okay. I'll be fine. Nothing's gonna happen to me while the elders are in command. They won't let anything bad happen to us. Just because the Chronicler told us we should participate in the war doesn't mean they're going to just throw us into battle. They'll probably have us do stuff like making crystal runs for troops on the battlements or preparing meals for them. Everyone has their place in war. They'll give us a proper one."

Elleca sniffed and wiped her face. "I didn't even think about that. You're probably right."

"Of course I am. Why would they make children fight in battle unless we're pretty much the only ones left?"

"Then why all the hardcore training?"

"Because, the Chronicler said we're important. They were just trying to prepare us so that way we'll be ready when we need to be."

"That makes so much sense. I don't know why I didn't think of any of that."

Roxy smacked Elleca on the back. "Because you don't think, silly."

Elleca smiled again and shoved him. "I guess you're good for something. You do know what to say when it counts."

Roxy cupped his paw to his ear. "What was that?"

"I said Roxy's a big nerd."

"And just like that, the moment's over. I was starting to like you having feelings."

"Don't get used to it."

XXX

Renna walked alone down the street that led to her house. Several dragons flew overhead, flocking toward the crystal stocks. Her parents were still helping to finish the trenches, so they wouldn't even begin ferrying crystals until after high sun. Everyone had something to do or someone to be with. Her friends had separated after their last meeting together in the arena. Roxy went with Elleca, Sora with Psy, and Tera with Vera. She would have gone with Wither, but he was going to be busy for the rest of the day, too. There was no rest for him. He was too useful. There would always be something for him to do around Warfang, which left Renna alone. She kicked a pebble further down the street with her next step and kept walking.

The crystal at her neck swayed side to side with each step she took, gently brushing her chest as she took the long way home. She looked down at it. Her face was reflected in the surface, staring back at her in several refracted segments. She turned her head to stare at it from another angle, where her face wouldn't be distorted. The only thing she wanted at that moment was to have some company, someone to break her out of her boredom, to shatter her lonely solitude with their presence. It made her feel a tad melancholy and unimportant, to be temporarily forgotten by everyone, while they all worked together to finish the last of the preparations. It would at least be better if didn't have the sinking feeling in her stomach for being all alone to contemplate what tomorrow would bring.

"I hate feeling like this. I hate the anticipation of something bad on its way, and being all alone. I don't have anyone to talk to. It sucks. It would be nice if you could take away my emotions, at least for a day. Then I wouldn't have to worry about it."

Once she finished saying this, one of the corners of the crystal twinkled, and a second, ghostly image of Renna's face split away from her reflection and slid into the adjacent facet. When this happened, it was as if someone pulled a stopper in her heart and poured everything out. It wasn't a horrible feeling, it wasn't a great feeling, either. But the relief of not having to feel anything was comforting. It made her feel powerful to no longer care about anything. She felt like she could sit at home and read a book or go out to the fields and face Malefor's army. Either or, it was no big deal. She looked into the facet of the crystal that contained her emotions and watched as several colors swirled around inside it, bouncing off the edges of their prison. "Don't you worry. I'll let you out tomorrow."

Then Renna stopped. What if she didn't let them out tomorrow? Or the next day for that matter? What if she didn't let them out until the end of the war? If her emotions stayed locked away in the crystal, she wouldn't have to worry about being scared. She wouldn't have to worry about not hurting anyone either. Renna thought about obliterating waves of enemies with sunbeams. She watched their bodies burn and the agony melt away with their faces with her mind's eye. None of this troubled her. "This is perfect," she said, surprising herself with the unfamiliarity in her own voice. She even sounded like she didn't give a poke about anything, like Wither did when he was trying to optimize his power. "If I stay like this, I can be the fighting machine that Spyro and Cynder said was the only thing I was lacking.

"But what about the end of the war? What should I do then?" Renna contemplated whether it would be a good idea to slaughter scores of enemy troops while she didn't care, then take her emotions back and have to face what she did. "Will I be able to live with myself after that? When I suddenly have the ability to care about all the people I've hurt all at once? How will I handle that? Not well, I imagine. Maybe this isn't such a good idea. But then again, what must be done must be done. If I allow myself to care while I fight, it might hold me back. We all have to pay a price in war. Maybe mine will come once I have to face up to everything I've done. I have a duty to defend this city. If I have to lock up my emotions to do horrible things and then release them later, then so be it. It's decided. I won't take them back until this war is over. Then everyone can start healing together. Including me."

Renna continued her trek home, more or less indifferent to all of her previously pressing concerns. There was no bounce in her step, but at least the transformation had taken the drag out of her tail and the droop from her face.

XXX

"Hey, we need your help."

Wylee looked up from his Vallion staff where it lay on a table outside the barracks. He had completely dismantled it, scattering it into bits of circuitry, dangling coils, some of the tiny metal pieces he called screws that were much like the nails used to build houses, though more complex in their design. He held one end of the staff in one paw and one of the tools he called a screwdriver in the other. He looked up and saw that Brook was watching him. "Can it wait? I'm a little busy at the moment."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm loosening one of the releases in my staff. One of the triggers is jammed."

"Can that wait until later? We need all the help we can get. We're prepping our arrows."

Wylee looked over to where the arrow smiths had been making arrows all day every day since their arrival in Warfang. Some of the villagers were now applying poison to the tips, taking extreme care not to touch the poison themselves. Brook's mother had brought bundles of kavok, the deadliest plant in Avalar. While it always spelled the end for anyone dumb enough to eat it or unfortunate enough to be pricked by something laced with it, even contact with the skin caused intense burning that nothing could alleviate for four days. Since no children were allowed to handle the stuff, the cubs of the village were set to work dipping arrow tips made of flint into oil. These strike-anywhere projectiles were easy to set ablaze for an additional punch when they met their mark.

Wylee waved a paw at the rest of the village and went back to work on his staff. "I've already designed some prototype arrows of a different model that should prove effective in battle. I really need to make sure my staff is ready for tomorrow."

Brook crossed her arms and leaned against the side of the barracks. "So you're just going to sit here and work all by yourself on your own little project while everyone else works together to make sure we have enough treated arrows tomorrow?"

"Like I said, I've already made a considerable amount of arrows that should do us a world of good."

"That's not helping us right now, though, is it?"

Wylee got up and went inside. He returned several seconds later with his bow and a quiver of arrows he had made certain to let everyone know not to touch a few days ago. He reached into his quiver and pulled out an arrow, notched it, and pulled back. "Fire on the range!"

Anyone close to the archery range backed away and watched as Wylee let fly. Instead of aiming for one of the straw targets set up for practice, Wylee's arrow soared toward a huge boulder that sat by the path leading to the barracks from the street. When the arrow hit, a concussive shockwave blew outward in all directions. The air punched anyone close enough in the chest, nearly bowling them over with the sheer pressure. When the smoke and the dust cleared, the boulder was scattered across the yard and the street into tiny pieces of gravel.

Wylee turned to regard Brook, who stared, open mouthed, at the remains of the big rock. Wylee pulled another of the arrows from his quiver and waved it in front of her. "Impact powder encased in magnesium tips."

Everyone cheered as Wylee returned his arrows to their rightful place and sat back down to work on his staff. Brook watched him tinker with the seemingly meaningless mess of parts. "So what's your point?"

Without looking up from his work, Wylee said, "My point is, I'm doing what I feel is best to help the village."

"Let the boy be, Brook," said Elder Tracker. "We can treat the arrows without him. He's working on something far too marvelous to be bothered by such a tedious task. If that staff of his is half as important as those arrows, and it's ten times as much from what I've seen of it, then he needs to finish his work on it as soon as possible. Come. Help me with the children. Maple is smearing too much oil on her arrows."

"What? Still?" said one of the cubs. She held up a dripping arrow. "What do you want from me? I'm doing my best."

Brook walked over and instructed Maple how to dip the arrows properly. "You have to be careful, Maple. Too generous an application and the archers might set their hands on fire."

When Maple had the technique down, Brook set to work treating the arrows with poison. Though she was only fifteen, she was trusted to take on the task just as the rest of the adults, being the healer's apprentice. "Mom, we're running low on solution. I think you need to make more kavok paste."

A scarlet cheetah looked up from her work and started to get up. However, Hunter pulled her back down. "Why don't you let her give it a try? You said she needs the practice."

Wylee waved a paw toward the barracks from his table. "Yes, send her inside, Ginger. She's been looking over at me every two seconds."

"How would you know unless you were looking at me at least every two seconds?" said Brook. "Besides, you haven't looked away from that staff of yours since you sat back down."

"It's called peripheral, honey," said Wylee.

"I'm not your honey," said Brook as several of the children started laughing.

"Go make more kavok paste," said Wylee. "Go. Go on. Get." Wylee interrupted Brook every time she tried to talk back.

"Shut up, Wylee. Nobody likes you," said Brook as she dipped another arrow.

"Why are you still talking? No one wants to hear your voice. You're annoying."

Many of the villagers were looking up from their work every now and then to grin at the quarreling teens. They did this all the time. It was not uncommon.

"You're just jealous because I have a beautiful voice."

"And your infallible modesty."

"You're one to talk about modesty, shooting off your exploding arrows in front of everyone. 'Oh, look at me everyone. Aren't I simply amazing? I know, I know. I'm awesome. Right? Tell me I'm awesome. Hey, you, over there. I'm awesome right? Tell me I'm awesome!'"

"I do not sound like that."

"That, my friend, is a load."

"All right, all right, that's enough," said Ginger, breaking up the squabble. "Brook, go inside and make more paste before we run out."

"Okay, I'm going."

Wylee looked up as she passed his table and gave her a wink. She stuck her tongue out at him in response and swished her tail across his nose, making him sneeze. "Aw, you butt."

Brook cackled as she disappeared into the barracks.

XXX

Wither shifted to the plaza and sat in the middle of the square. He watched the skies and waited for the citizens of Warfang to come to him. After a few seconds, he lost interest in the clouds drifting by and surveyed the plaza. This was the central hub of Warfang, the place where everything happened and everyone went. Though the city was ten miles across, there wasn't a single citizen who didn't pass through here at least once a week.

This was where special events and holidays were celebrated, like the Great Awakening and the Night Hunt. This was where the Council of Elders met and discussed important matters regarding the city and the citizens that inhabited it. This was where he had cursed Arragor and taken the first step to starting this war. Wither had planted his nothing inside Arragor, and from there Arragor took it to Malefor. Tomorrow, the magnitude of that seemingly small event would make itself fully known. Tomorrow, the true war began, the preparations for it completed by both sides.

And then they came. Wither pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind as dragons began to soar down from over rooftops, approaching him with armfuls of red and green crystals. The first one to touch down next to him was a shadow dragon who looked to be over two hundred years of age, given his size. He placed the crystals on the ground and nudged them toward Wither. He scratched the back of his next and looked around at everything but Wither, clearly unsure how to address him. "So, uh, you're going to do something to these crystals, and then I take them somewhere else, right?"

Wither approached the dragon and grabbed one of the crystals. "Yeah, just give me a minute. I've never made these things so they won't drain dragon magic. Let me know if it starts sucking your mana out so I can try to figure out a way to alter it."

The dragon backed up a step and looked at Wither with eyes that darted all over his body. "What are you saying? You're going to drain me like you did the Fire Master that one day?"

"Not on purpose," said Wither, not really paying attention to the nervous dragon. Instead, he inspected a green crystal and pulled all of the magic in it left behind by the ancestors. When it was nothing more than a clear husk, the shadow dragon watched Wither's every move. "So, what's your name?"

The dragon pointed to his chest and said, "Who? Me? I'm—my name's Greyscale."

Wither looked up from the crystal for a moment to regard the shadow dragon. "For real? Or is that some kind of joke?"

Greyscale balked and shook his head furiously. "No no, for real. That's my actual name. I wouldn't make fun of you or anything."

Wither looked back down to his gem and instructed dark nothingness to fill its depths. "Well, Greyscale, tell me if this feels funny."

Greyscale immediately backpedaled away from Wither. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What's happening? You said you wouldn't suck out all my magic. It's going so fast."

"I said I wouldn't do it on purpose," said Wither while he tapped at the crystal. "Hey, no taking away dragon magic. Just Amophis, you hear me?"

Greyscale stopped running away and slowly edged back toward Wither. "Did you just tell the crystal what to do? It—it worked. It stopped pulling out my power."

"Oh, good," said Wither. "That's what I wanted. Okay, you can take this to wherever Yarrow wants it now. See you later." Wither waved him on and turned to an ice dragoness who had just touched down behind him.

It went on like that for several hours. Dragon after dragon came to Wither, watched him convert the crystals into dark crystals, then carted them away. At first it was interesting because Wither hadn't converted many crystals in a while and the reaction of every citizen of Warfang to his part in the process was always one of amazement. But after a while it became dull and tedious. After everyone had seen the process several times, they were less taken aback by it, which took even more of the fun out of it for Wither. But at least they were warming up to him. Some of them would even make small talk with him while he converted their crystals. When Greyscale came back around yet again he asked Wither how he was holding up.

"Pretty bored, Greyscale. Pretty bored. This isn't exactly the most interesting job, but I'm the only one who can do it, so it's all on me. On the upside I'm meeting lots of new people today. I think I've officially introduced myself to every citizen of Warfang now."

"Hey, there you go. I'm sure that part's got to be exciting."

Wither saw Spyro and Cynder fly over the roof top behind Greyscale. They landed behind the shadow dragon and walked around him. "How's it going, sweetie?" said Cynder.

"Oh, you know, just doing the same thing over and over again."

"Do you need a break?" said Spyro.

"Nah, I'm good," said Wither. He handed Greyscale his converted crystals. "Here you go, Greyscale. Oh, by the way. These are my parents, Spyro and Cynder. Perhaps you've heard of them. I hear they, like, saved the world or something a few years ago."

Greyscale nodded slowly as he waved at the legendary heroes and their son. "Hi."

"All right, off you go," said Wither.

Greyscale took off and nearly flew into a building while looking back at the Spyro family. The three of them heard him yelp and watched him flap his wings extra hard to avoid smashing into a wall.

Spyro shared a laugh with Cynder and said, "That was some introduction you gave us there. You're pretty funny when you want to be, aren't you?"

"I like to pick on him," said Wither while he converted the next set of crystals brought to him. "He's a funny guy himself, but he's nice."

"Glad to see you're getting to know everyone. Have you been listening to the hive chatter? Everyone is buzzing about you to one another."

"Really? I haven't been paying attention to anyone." Wither focused on the buzz in the back of his head. _"Hey, Yarrow. Is everyone really talking about me?"_

_ "Incessantly. It's all good things though. I've been monitoring every comment."_

_ "They say you have an interesting personality."_ Wither heard his father in his head.

_"And that you appear very intelligent for your age,"_ thought Cynder.

_"Must be all those books I read,"_ thought Wither. _"Hey, Yarrow. How much of the city have we covered?"_

_ "The entire outer perimeter of Warfang has been sealed off with deposits of your black crystals spaced every fifty feet. There are going to be a lot of crystals you have to make. We've only worked our way about half a mile into the city from the outer wall, but progress will pick up the closer to the center we get."_

_ "So we still have quite a ways to go then."_

_ "Oh yes. How are you feeling? Is this taking too much of a toll on you?"_

_ "No, not at all. I could do this for days. It doesn't take a whole lot of effort. I'm just bored is all."_

_ "Would you like me to send one or two of your friends your way?"_

_ "Thanks but no thanks, Yarrow. If they wanted to keep me company, they'd be here right now. They're probably trying to relax before tomorrow."_

_ "I'm sorry that you couldn't do the same, Wither."_

_ "It's okay. I understand. Besides, this is more my duty than anyone else's in the first place. If anyone should have to sacrifice their day before the siege, it should be me."_

_ "I don't really believe that. You are young, Wither. This isn't totally your fault."_

_ "Even still, I accept the blame. I'll do my part. And I won't complain."_

_ "That's very admirable of you, Wither. By my calculations, I would say that you should be done by about twilight sun."_

_ "Okay, thanks for the estimate."_

Wither drained several more crystals from new arrivals before returning his attention to his parents. "So yeah. This has been my day. What about you guys? I should have seen you several times before now. What happened?"

Cynder rolled her eyes and slapped her tail against the ground. "There was a little dispute about how many green and red crystals should be sacrificed to make your crystals. Vivian wanted to send more red crystals and Noh wanted to send more green, so we have to play mediator. When that didn't work, we got Yarrow involved and he became an arbiter. Then the problem was solved."

"Oh, okay. And what's Spire doing? I haven't seen him in a while. What makes him exempt from ferrying the crystals?"

Spyro shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. We haven't seen Spire since the day they came and took Zar. Yarrow must be keeping an eye on him."

Back when they were in the dungeon where Spire was held, Yarrow had told Spire that he would tell him if he needed anything. "That's weird. Yarrow said he'd make use of him when he needed him, but today of all days is when he'd be needed most. I don't know why Yarrow isn't using him."

_"Spire is in the mines, digging out more crystals for the city,"_ said Yarrow through the link. _"I think that the best place for him. No fighting should occur down there, which means no temptation to do anything that he shouldn't. If he's kept out of the dark as to what's occurring on the surface, then he won't interject."_

"Was it really necessary to go to those lengths to make sure he doesn't betray us again?" said Wither aloud.

_"Spire is in a very difficult place, Wither. His loyalty to Warfang must be unquestionable because he is a member of the Council of Elders, but his son is one of the primary forces on the opposing side. It's proven too much for me to ask him to remain loyal to us during a fight, so I'm removing him from combat duty, for his sake and ours."_

"Whatever you have to do, I guess. Seems like a little too much trouble to me."

_"You just leave him to me. Don't worry about anyone but yourself right now, Wither."_

_ "Okay, will do."_

Spyro and Cynder took off toward the crystal stores and returned several minutes later, joining the ferrying team. Wither worked all day, converting crystals and waiting for the next batch to arrive. When the sun had finally gone down over the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, the pace of the arrivals began to pick up rather quickly. During the last hour of the process, he was bombarded with crystals. Several dragons would arrive at once and would have to wait while Wither converted their cargo.

When shadows started to fill the plaza and the sky began to turn purple, Wither noticed that the dragons were carrying the crystals he converted to the edge of the plaza and placing them against the walls of the buildings in the square. Finally, one last dragon gave him a solitary crystal. When Wither converted it, Yarrow buzzed in his head. _"Go ahead and just set it down, right there, Wither. That's the last one. We're all done."_

When Wither placed the crystal on the ground, everyone cheered and some even came over to pat him on the back and to tell him, "Job well done."

Yarrow voice rose above the clamor in everyone's heads, settling them down. _"Excellent work, everyone. We've all made such good time. Wither, you're done for the day, thank you for making your special crystals for us. As for everyone else, I have one last request for you. Please make a trip to my house. I need you all to go to my stockroom and take a bag of seeds and spread them around the city. The rest of the city needs to be revitalized with plant life. This will give me more of a springboard to strengthen our connection and give me more power and influence over whatever may occur inside the city should anyone be lucky enough to break through our defenses. I know I said the crystal network would be the last thing, but I really mean it this time. Do this one last thing for me and you may all rest for the night. Those who have guard duty on the wall tonight are exempt from this chore. That is all."_

Wither felt out his mother and father in his mind. _"Where are you?"_

_ "We're in Yarrow's sanctuary," _said Spyro.

Wither shifted inside Yarrow's dome and looked up. Yarrow rested on an identical altar of tiered roots, held half-aloft by vines dipping down from the top of the structure. Yarrow stirred when some of the plants around Wither twitched at his sudden arrival. "Easy, Wither. You'll startle my defenses popping in here like that."

"Sorry, Yarrow. What's going on in here?"

Cynder pulled Wither between here forelegs. "We were discussing the arrangements for tomorrow."

"What arrangements?"

"We were discussing what to do with you and your friends," said Spyro.

"What are we going to do?"

Yarrow opened his glowing pale-green eyes and said, "Roxy and Psy will be observing Terrador and Noh's command respectively over the defenses on the eastern wall. Tera and Sora will be accompanying Vivian and Valorie on the northern wall. Your cheetah friend, Wylee, has agreed to stand guard with Vera on the southern wall under Hexus and Cyril. And finally, Renna and Elleca will keep a vigil on the western wall under the supervision of Cynder and Volteer."

"Which leaves," said Spyro. "You and I. The two of us are to report wherever we're needed to lend aid where it is needed the most."

Wither looked back and forth between Yarrow and his parents. "So, my friends are actually going to be fighting?"

"No, no, no," said Cynder, shaking her head. "They're simply there to watch and learn. It's not expected that the enemy troops will be able to actually reach the city on the first day, but in the event that they make it past the second trench outside, your friends will immediately be taken to Mjölnir."

"And what about me?"

There was a pause before Yarrow spoke up. "That's what we were deciding when while everyone was finishing the crystal net. If the enemy troops crossed all of our outer lines of defense, what would you want to do? You are a youngling, so we are inclined to send you to Mjölnir as well, but the simple fact of the matter is, if things get bad, or Malefor comes calling, we may need you to help tip the balance in our favor. Young as you are, you're a game changer. We may not be able to afford sending you underground."

"Then don't," said Wither. "I'll fight. I'm not afraid."

"You say that now, but you've never been in a real fight before."

"My dad didn't run from danger when he was my age. He left home and took out wave after wave of enemy troops, infiltrated several hostile saturated areas, and always came out on top. I'll be no different. If anything, it'll be easier for me. All I have to do is wait for the danger to come to me."

"He has a really good point," said Spyro.

"Then it is decided," said Yarrow. "If you change your mind, you are free to retreat to Mjölnir. But I get the feeling your help will be much appreciated tomorrow and the days to come."

"That settles that then," said Spyro.

"Indeed. That is all that I required of you. You are all free to go. I suggest you get some sleep. You take your positions at dawn."

Wither turned to his father. "What's our starting position?"

"I say we start on the northern wall and patrol in a clockwise pattern until we're needed elsewhere."

"Sounds like a plan," said Yarrow.

"Okay, until tomorrow then," said Wither. "Good night, Yarrow."

"Good night to you all."

With that, Wither shifted his parents and himself home.


End file.
